LIBRARY 

University  of 

California 

Irvine 


BJ&RTKAND  SMJTVHI 

WWWWJBE 

larifi  0&ACH,  tf AMP: 


v 


CHALMETTE 


THAT    BALCONY    CORNER     IS    EVER     TO     BE    HELD    DEAl 


Page  219. 


CHALMETTE 

THE  HISTORT  OF  THE  ADVEN 
TURES  &f  LOVE  AFFAIRS  OF 
CAPTAIN  ROBE  BEFORE  fcf 
DURING  THE  BATTLE  OF  NEW 
ORLEANS:  WRITTEN  BT  HIM- 
SELF 

BY  CLINTON  ROSS 

AUTHOR  OF  "THE  SCARLET  COAT,"  "ZULEKA,"  ETC. 


PHILADELPHIA  &  LONDON 
J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY 

1898 


COPYRIGHT,  1897 

BY 
J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY 


TO 

ADMIRAL   ERBEN 

MY  DEAR  ADMIRAL, — You,  sir,  have  borne  the  American 
flag  on  so  many  seas, — in  so  many  affairs, — before  so  many  peo 
ples, — that  I  venture  to  put  your  name, — distinguished  in  the 
service  of  the  United  States, — before  this  tale  of  Chalmette. 

What  finer  introduction  could  it  have,  though  indeed  but  a 
landsman's  tale  ?  Yet  I  may  hesitate }  for  who  may  spin  a  yarn 
better  than  yourself?  who  knows  so  well  how  to  fascinate  with 
some  rare  account?  who  may  see  more  readily  the  faults,  the 
incongruities  of  my  attempt  ?  May  I  hope  that  your  name  will 
prove  the  talisman  which  shall  command  for  "  Chalmette"  some 
favor  ? 

I  am,  sir 

Yours  faithfully 

CLINTON   ROSS 

At  NEW  YORK,  ajth  April,  '97 


AUTHOR'S   NOTE 

Three  books  on  cities  stand  out  preeminent  for 
charm  of  subject  and  grace  of  manner, — 
D'Amicis's  "Constantinople,"  Stevenson's 
"  Edinboro,"  and  Miss  King's  "  New  Orleans;" 
and  to  this  last  I  must  acknowledge  my  debt 


CONTENTS 

» 

CHAPTER  I  PAGI 

Christopher  Robe  visits  Westmore   ...          15 

CHAPTER  II 

New  Orleans 36 

CHAPTER  III 

Mademoiselle  de  Renter 59 

CHAPTER  IV 

The  Letter 65 

CHAPTER  V 

The  Pirates  of  Barataria 75 

CHAPTER  VI 

The  Ward  of  Lafitte  and  Captain  Domi 
nique  You 91 

CHAPTER  VII 

The  Death-Bed  of  De  Eertrand     ...        104 

ix 


x  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  VIII 

The  Entertainment  to  bis  Majesty's  Offi 
cers  no 

CHAPTER  IX 

The  Diplomacy  of  Lafitte 119 

CHAPTER  X 

Monsieur  Clement 129 

CHAPTER  XI 

The  Ussuline  Sister 143 

CHAPTER   XII 

The  Entrance  of  the  Prince 156 

CHAPTER  XIII 

At  Madame  Demarche's 171 

CHAPTER  XIV 

Lajitte  and  the  Traitor 1 84 

CHAPTER  XV 

The  Escape 198 

CHAPTER  XVI 

The  Balcony  at  Madame  Demarche's  .    .       206 


CONTENTS  xi 

CHAPTER  XVII  PAGE 

The  Fir  it  Days  of  the  Battle 225 

CHAPTER   XVIII 

The  Rivals 232 

CHAPTER  XIX 

Other  Days  of  Battle 236 

CHAPTER  XX 

The  Eighth  of  January 240 

CHAPTER  XXI 

The  Quarrel  of  M.    Jean  Lafitte   and 
Captain  Robe 249 


PREFATORY    NOTE 

THAT  my  dear  grandfather  was  one  of  the 
first  men  of  his  time,  I  dare  say  I  need  not 
state.  The  achievements  of  Christopher  Robe 
are  too  obvious  before  those  who  read  the 
histories  of  Americans.  And  so  I  need  not 
apologize  too  much  for  presenting  here  his 
own  account  of  his  life.  'Tis,  in  fact,  a  mat 
ter  of  pride  to  me  to  serve  him  in  the  poor 
way  of  editor.  He  did  so  much  in  these 
United  States, — in  those  days  that  are  now 
so  far  away  as  to  be  matters  of  tradition, — 
that  his  own  history  of  these  great  events, — 
particularly  of  General  Jackson  and  the  battle 
of  New  Orleans  and  of  the  pirates  of  Bara- 
taria, — may  be  accepted  as  a  book  of  more 
than  the  private  interest  to  us,  who  are  his 
kin. 

I  have  followed  for  the  most  his  own 
phrasing ;  the  manuscript  is  as  it  was  found 
in  the  old  house  by  the  Potomac.  And  the 


xiy  PREFATORY   NOTE 

editor  has  only  touched  it  here  and  there, — 
with  a  reverential  hand, — since  he  was  the 
most  distinguished  of  her  race.  I  may  add 
here  that  I  have  a  very  vivid  memory  of  him 
as  I  saw  him  when,  a  girl,  I  was  brought 
back  from  Europe  to  Westmore.  My  mem 
ory  pictures  a  stretch  of  lawn  and  an  old 
man  very  well  kept,  with  bright  eyes, — they 
were,  I  believe,  intensely  black, — two  great 
hounds  by  his  side.  He  paused  and  ex 
changed  a  laughing  remark  with  the  little 
girl  who  was  watching  him  almost  wonder- 
ingly.  For  she  had  seen  his  name  and  his 
picture  in  a  very  bad  wood-cut  in  a  history 
of  the  United  States.  He  was,  I  remember, 
a  small  man,  yet  he  ever  carried  himself  with 
a  certain  air  which  gave  him  distinction. 
When  younger  he  was  said  to  have  been 
very  muscular,  and  in  his  old  age  he  pos 
sessed  an  air  of  great  strength.  And  I  am 
reminded  of  that  portrait  of  him,  taken  when 
he  was  a  general  of  the  Mexican  War, 
which  showed  him  strong  and  virile;  a 
thin,  fine,  smooth-shaven  face,  framed  by 
brown  hair ;  a  short,  compact  figure ;  a  hand, 


PREFATORY   NOTE  xv 

slender  and  nervous,  on  his  sword.  He 
looked  every  inch  like  those  men  of  our  line 
of  whom  Stuart  and  Peale  have  left  several 
famous  likenesses. 

When  the  girl  saw  him  that  day  it  was,  I 
think,  in  '57.  He  died  in  '59,  before  that 
terrible  civil  strife  which  divided  our  family. 
The  question  was  never  put  to  him, — the 
Union  or  the  Confederation  ?  His  life  ended 
before  that.  But  he  belonged  to  another 
splendid  period  of  American  history,  when 
our  nationality  asserted  itself  lustily,  when  we 
were  felt  as  one  of  the  naval  powers  to  be 
counted  on,  when  Great  Britain  found  it  not 
so  easy  a  matter  to  force  her  former  colonies 
back  into  their  parts  in  the  British  Empire. 
'Tis  a  story  of  many  events  that  may  make 
us  feel  shame, — of  incompetency,  of  poor 
politics, — but  out  of  it  all  comes  the  splendid 
distinction  of  the  American  navy  and  of  the 
fight  General  Jackson  made  at  New  Orleans. 

But  I  am  possibly  saying  too  much  of  this 
manuscript  of  my  dear  grandfather.  I  will 
leave  it,  without  further  apology,  to  speak 
for  itself,  as  if  he  himself  were  talking.  And 


xvi  PREFATORY  NOTE 

why,  indeed,  isn't  he?  The  lines  were 
penned  by  him,  and  here  on  my  desk  lie  the 
papers  as  he  left  them  in  those  last  quiet  days 
at  Westmore. 

CORNELIA  ROBE  FENWOLD. 

AT  WESTMORE,  VIRGINIA, 
yth  April,  1897. 


CHALMETTE 

+* 

CHAPTER   I 

CHRISTOPHER   ROBE  VISITS   WESTMORE 

THE  writer  of  this  reminiscence  heard  the 
great  American's  Farewell  Address ;  a  little 
lad  that  day,  standing  by  his  uncle's  side, 
the  scene  still  made  an  impression  that  he 
carried  down  into  other  years ;  and  when  in 
the  period  of  our  inefficiency  we  said  Ameri 
can  traditions  were  lost, — when  they  had 
won  the  fights  in  the  West  and  burned 
Washington, — the  man  and  the  lad  recalled 
that  other  scene.  Kit  remembers  how  the 
uncle  and  nephew  walked  together  side  by 
side,  the  elder  talking  vehemently,  as  was 
his  habit,  recalling  what  Kit's  father  had 
done  in  the  former  war. 

"  But  the  navy  has  done  its  part  well,  Kit," 
he  added ;  "  we  were  even  going  to  curtail 

'5 


16  CHALMETTE 

that, — in  our  idea  to  economize."  And  Mr. 
Robe  went  into  a  tirade  about  the  ways 
and  means  of  politicians.  Now,  as  a  matter 
of  observation,  Kit  is  sure  that  the  same 
old  tirades  are  being  constantly  delivered 
against  politicians  and  parties.  'Tis  ever  a 
discussion,  a  quarrel,  this  struggle  we  have 
in  the  world;  and  'twas  the  same  in  1814 
as  now.  What  could  be  better,  or  worse, 
than  a  certain  course*?  What  a  villain  is 
that  leader  !  how  are  the  people  bought  and 
sold,  or  led  astray !  how  much  better  were 
our  fathers  in  their  day  and  generation  !  And 
so  the  discussion  goes  on  endlessly,  and  the 
old  world  keeps  jogging  on,  jogging  on. 

"  I  think  well  of  your  expedition  to  New 
Orleans,  Kit,  but  I  don't  see  how  Louisiana 
is  to  be  saved  to  us.  What  can  Andrew 
Jackson,  indeed,  do?  It's  their  last  resort, 
and  it's  a  notice  to  the  Louisianians, — take 
care  of  yourselves,  and  we  will  approve. 
Think  of  those  veterans  of  the  Peninsula, — 
those  leaders  who  burned  the  Capitol  only 
the  other  day ;  and  I  could  see  the  flames 
rising  over  the  hills.  I  sat  there  in  the  li- 


CHALMETTE  17 

brary  and  wanted  to  have  my  legs  again, — 
as  I  used  to  be  before  the  gout  took  'em 
away  from  me.  But  you've  done  passably 
well,  Kit,"  he  added  ;  "  and  it's  good  of  you 
to  come  around  to  see  me  before  you  go 
down  there." 

Mr.  Robe  then  went  on  talking  about  the 
particulars  of  the  estate,  which  some  day  was 
to  be  Kit's  all,  things  turning  out  properly. 
The  Robe  name,  the  Robe  career, — were 
the  nephew's  to  follow  after  him.  They 
paused  over  Kit's  father's  portrait  as  they 
talked,  and  Kit  looked  across  to  his  mother's, 
which  faced  it.  They  died  within  a  year  of 
each  other,  in  '91,  when  Kit  was  five.  John 
Robe,  the  boy's  guardian  and  uncle,  looked 
after  him ;  he  had  never  married,  and  Kit 
appeared  to  be  his  main  interest,  his  care. 
Kit  can  see  him  now  as  they  stood  there 
talking  together, — the  best  friends  in  the 
world ;  nothing  seemed  ever  likely  to  come 
between  them,  except  one  subject :  a  woman. 
The  uncle  knew  quite  as  well  as  any  one 
that  part  of  the  reason  for  the  nephew  being 
at  Robe  House,  on  his  way  down  to  New 


i8  CHALMETTE 

Orleans,  was  that,  as  you  follow  the  river, 
you  come  to  the  plantation  of  the  Maurices. 
The  uncle  held  the  Maurices  not  of  so  good 
blood ;  and  he  had  his  certain  fears  about 
Sallie  Maurice  and  Christopher  Robe.  What 
good  guardian  quite  approves  of  one's  choice 
of  a  woman  *?  and  a  father,  or  an  uncle  like 
Kit's,  who  took  a  father's  place,  cherishes" 
the  illusion  that  no  one  in  the  world  is  quite 
the  equal  of  their  particular  boy.  Kit  recalls 
how  he  left  him,  finding  some  excuse,  and 
rode  with  Simon  Wesley,  his  boy,  across  to 
the  Maurices. 

It  was  a  quiet,  charming  day,  and  though 
Virginia  had  been  stirred  and  frightened  out 
of  her  wits  by  the  recent  invasion,  there  was 
no  evidence  of  unrest  or  war  that  moment. 
The  chatter  of  the  fields  reached  Captain 
Robe  pleasantly ;  a  rhythm  of  summer  lay 
about  on  the  slopes.  Now  and  then  he  had 
to  stop  to  speak  to  some  darky  who  was  glad 
indeed  to  see  him  back  from  the  wars.  And 
then  suddenly,  about  a  turn,  he  came  on  her 
walking  by  her  horse, — as  his  luck  would 
have  it. 


CHALMETTE  19 

"  Sallie,"  said  he,  dismounting. 

"Ah,  it's  Kit,"  she  cried;  "Kit,  you're 
back  then." 

Sallie  Maurice  was  neither  tall  nor  short ; 
as  Kit  remembers  that  moment,  of  a  rather 
full  figure,  an  eager,  smiling  face  framed  by 
reddish-brown  hair.  Now,  as  she  stood  by 
the  roadside,  her  face  flushed  slightly  at  the 
sight  of  the  young  captain.  Was  she  glad 
to  see  him  back?  Had  she  heard  he  had 
gained  a  captaincy  at  Lundy's  Lane?  All 
the  little  vanities  he  had  about  himself — and 
I  don't  believe  he  had  more  than  most  men 
— asserted  themselves.  But  surely  he  had 
never  found  in  his  wanderings  a  prettier, 
more  winsome  face  than  this  Virginia  maid's, 
with  that  rarely  piquant  grace.  He  won 
dered  if  the  two  Braytons, — Tom  and  Sam, 
cousins,  proprietors  of  Westmoreland, — 
were  still  so  persistent  suitors  as  they  had 
been.  Was  he  too  late,  then  *?  Had  others 
taken  her  fancy?  For  as  they  stood  there 
our  captain  was  suddenly  in  a  fever  of 
interest. 

"Do  you  remember  when  we  last  met?" 


20  CHALMETTE 

said  he,  sillily  enough,  looking  not  at  her, 
but  at  the  river  making  a  broad  sweep  with 
splendid  grandeur  at  their  feet.  The  great 
rivers,  the  Hudson,  the  Potomac,  the  Mis 
sissippi,  seem  to  typify  the  strength  and 
virility  of  the  United  States. 

"That  night  at  Mrs.  Madison's,"  Sally 
said,  laughing  rather  mischievously.  "  Poor 
Mrs.  Madison  had  such  a  hard  time  when 
they  ran  away  from  Washington,"  she  added, 
as  if  wishing  to  change  the  subject.  And 

C/  C2  */ 

then  Kit  noticed  that  she  looked  paler  than 
when  he  had  seen  her  last.  In  his  pleasure 
at  seeing  her  face  he  had  not  noted  that,  and 
now  he  asked,  rather  anxiously, — 

"  Why,  where 's  all  your  color,  old  play 
mate4?" 

But  as  he  said  it  her  face  was  suffused 
again  with  a  rush  of  crimson. 

"  I  surely  have  enough  now,"  said  she,  her 
eyes  bent  down,  "  to  please  you,  sir.  Well  I 
may  be  paler.  My  uncle  says  that  I  am 
worried." 

"  What  in  the  world  can  worry  you  *?"  he 
cried ;  "  a  love-affair  *?"  he  added,  with  at- 


CHALMETTE  21 

tempted  facetiousness.  "  Eh,  Sallie  *?  You'd 
become  so  popular  even  before  I  left." 

"  I  care  not  for  men,"  she  said,  with  an 
upward  look  belying  the  statement.  "  If  that 
were  all  that  could  bother  me,  I  should  not 
have  a  care  in  the  world.  And  how  do  you 
do,  Simon  Wesley  ?"  she  said,  calling  to  the 
boy.  "  How  well  you  look, — almost  as 
well  as  your  master,  the  captain." 

"  Simon  is  a  soldier,"  said  Kit  then,  while 
Simon  rolled  his  eyes  and  showed  his  glit 
tering  teeth. 

"  He's  been  in  a  mile  of  bullets,"  the 
master  went  on,  and  Simon  turned  his  white, 
rolling  eyes  in  a  deprecatory  smile. 

Yes,  what  could  worry  her  in  all  the 
world  ? — she  who  ought  not  to  worry.  He 
had  an  impulse  then  and  there  to  begin  a 
course  of  violent  love.  He  remembered 
what  he  had  thought  of  her  when  he  was  on 
the  field ;  he  remembered  how  they  had 
grown  up  together ;  how  he  had  taught  her 
to  sit  a  horse.  He  remembered  how,  before 
he  had  gone  to  the  war,  she  had  become  a 
belle  of  that  countryside.  Yet,  now  that 


22  CHALMETTE 

he  was  back  at  Westmore, — now,  indeed, 
those  phrases  he  might  have  worded  seemed 
far-away  and  crude.  She  was  not  so  much 
the  girl  he  had  fancied  he  was  in  love  with 
as  the  simple,  honest  comrade  of  other  days, 
— the  girl  who  had  not  been  behind  in  his 
rough  sports ;  who  could  sit  a  horse, — he 
has  recorded  that  he  taught  her, — and  be  as 
fearless  as  any  one  of  us  after  the  hounds ; 
who  could  handle  an  oar  or  a  sail ;  a  jolly, 
Tomboy  sort  of  a  girl,  who  suddenly  had 
settled  down  into  the  quieter  ways  of  con 
scious  maidenhood.  Quieter,  did  I  say  ?  Was 
there  ever  so  great  a  flirt  as  Sallie  in  those 
days  ?  as  many  besides  Kit  could  attest.  So 
they  walked  on,  leading  the  horses ;  and  a 
hound  ran  out  and  recognized  the  returned 
Kit,  and  this  brought  the  two  back  to  other 
matters, — of  the  dogs  and  the  horses,  of 
what  had  happened  at  and  about  Westmore. 
And  the  girl  was  laughing,  and  Kit  was 
answering  her  back,  when  suddenly  Sallie 
sobered  and  turned  to  him. 

"  How,  Kit,  about  the  drinking?" 

Now  there  had  been  a  time  when  Kit  had 


CHALMETTE  23 

been  drinking  too  much,  as  was  not  an  uncom 
mon  vice  among  gentlemen  in  those  times. 
It's  a  rather  easy  matter  to  get  to  drinking  too 
much,  you  know ;  and  it  so  changes  a  man. 
Kit  has  ever  held  the  theory  that  you  owe  it 
to  your  fellow-man  to  be  agreeable ;  and,  so, 
some  drink  is  a  blessing.  It  raises  a  man  to 
the  level  of  agreeability.  But,  then,  I  fear 
Kit  had  it  in  him  to  overstep  the  line.  It 
was  so  easy  a  matter  to  get  to  a  condition 
where  it  took  ever  more  to  reach  that  level. 

"  I  have  been  rather  careful  about  that," 
said  Kit.  "  To  be  sure,  you  know,  a  man 
has  to." 

"  And  are  the  girls  in  New  York  so  charm 
ing4?"  said  Sallie. 

"  I  think  I've  compared  'em  all  with  one 
in  Virginia,"  said  our  young  gentleman, 
airily.  (To  this  narrator,  as  he  looks  back 
on  him,  it  was  as  if  he  were  that  young 
man's  father ;  he  can  see  his  mistakes  with 
a  great  pity,  and  envy,  too.  Oh,  for  the  joy 
life  sometimes  gave  in  those  days !  Oh,  for 
the  old  zest  of  pleasure  and  of  tingling 
blood  !  The  narrator  feels,  after  all,  that  he 


24  CHALMETTE 

has  become  a  degenerate  from  that  full- 
blooded,  generous  young  captain  he  is  com 
menting  on  of  Mrs.  Madison's  jolly  days, — 
days  when  formality  and  regard  for  old 
usages  still  obtained  !) 

"  Kit,  you've  still  a  tongue  for  compli 
ments.  I  have  heard  you  paid  Peggy  Waters 
many  when  you  made  such  furious  love  to 
her  in  Georgetown." 

"  Not  I,"  said  Kit. 

"  Well,  I  should  like  to  know  if  it  wasn't," 
Sallie  cried,  with  a  pout.  "  I  know  you  bet 
ter  than  you  do  yourself  where  a  pretty  face 
is  concerned." 

"  Well,  my  lady,  what  of  Lieutenant 
Wofington,  the  Englishman?" 

"But  I  wasn't  to  blame  because  he  ad 
mired  me,"  said  Sallie. 

"And  there's  Sam  Landers?" 

"  He  is,"  said  Sallie,  "  a  very  nice  fellow." 

"  Oh,  I  dare  say !  I  dare  say  !"  said  Kit,  in 
a  considerable  rage. 

"I  tell  you  what  I  will  agree  to,  Kit," 
Sallie  said,  at  last.  "  I  will  say  no  more  of 
Peggy " 


CHALMETTE  25 

"  If  I'll  say  no  more  of  the  others ;  there 
are  so  many,"  said  Kit,  contemptuously. 

"  Well,  if  you  talk  in  that  way,  Kit, — down, 
Jock  !"  to  the  hound, — "  you  needn't  come 
over  to-night.  We  didn't  know  you  were 
back  or  else  you  would  have  been  bidden." 

"  And  now,"  said  Kit,  "  there  appears  to 
be  no  chance  in  the  world.  I  deliberately 
have  closed  the  door." 

Simon  Wesley,  lingering  far  behind,  may 
have  wondered  or  not.  Simon  was  looking 
down  at  the  Potomac,  and  now  calling  to 
Jock,  who  remembered  him  as  he  did  his 
master. 

"  My  uncle  doubtless  would  be  glad  to 
see  you,"  said  Sallie,  finally. 

"  And  not  you,  Sallie  ?"  Kit  said.  "  I  am 
only  back  for  the  day.  I  am  on  my  way  to 
New  Orleans, — to  report  to  Governor  Clai- 
borne, — to  await  General  Jackson's  orders 
about  a  company." 

She  suddenly  faced  him  with  a  look  al 
most  of  fright  in  her  eyes. 

"  You  are  going  to  New  Orleans, — New 
Orleans  of  all  places'?" 


26  CHALMETTE 

"Why  not  there  as  well  as  to  another 
place  ?"  Kit  asked,  wondering  a  bit,  and  with 
a  sudden  access  of  vanity. 

"  Oh,  I  don't  know,"  said  she,  hesitatingly. 
"  It  is  so  far  away.  And,  then,  they  say 
there'll  be  fighting." 

"Do  you  care?"  Kit  asked,  drawing 
nearer,  but  she  pushed  him  back  with  a 
burst  of  laughter. 

"  Not  a  bit,  you  foolish  boy, — not  a 
bit,  I  assure  you.  You  are  wonderfully 
vain." 

"Oh,  am  I?"  Kit  asked,  with  some  cha 
grin.  "  I  think  I'll  say  good-by." 

"  How  foolish  our  talk  sounds  !  What's 
the  use  of  a  quarrel  when  at  the  best  you 
are  here  only  for  a  day  ?"  said  Sallie.  "  No, 
Kit,  you  must  come  over.  I  shall  be  sorry 
if  you  don't.  As  for  New  Orleans,  it  sug 
gests  something  to  me.  They  say  it's  a  very 
fine  city ;  and  you'll  find  pleasure  and  gam 
ing, — as  much  as  you  wish.  And  then 
there'll  be  some  soldiering,  too,"  she  added. 
"  Now  I  must  go  in ;  and  we'll  expect  you 
in  an  hour." 


CHALMETTE  27 

The  old  house  stood  white  and  beckoning 
in  its  meadow  as  the  two  hesitated.  Jock 
was  now  stretched  out  at  his  mistress's  feet, 
her  black  tugging  at  the  bridle  in  a  thought 
of  the  stable. 

"  Sallie,  dear,"  Kit  began  at  last. 

"  Oh,  bother !"  she  cried,  and  before  he 
knew  it  she  was  in  the  saddle  and  up  the 
path,  her  hat  fallen  back  and  a  fine  tangle 
of  yellow  hair  swinging  a  mockery  at  him  ; 
and  he  mounted  and  rode  back  to  West- 
more,  thinking  that  his  talk  with  his  little 
neighbor  had  not  been  exactly  satisfactory. 
He  was  in  a  perplexity  at  himself;  he  had 
been  at  the  point  of  asking  her  a  very  serious 
question,  but  she  wouldn't  listen. 

"  Where Ve  you  been  ?"  asked  the  master 
of  Westmore  as  his  nephew  returned. 

"  Over  to  the  Maurices.  I  met  Sallie  on 
the  road.  I  am  invited  there  to-night." 

"  Humph  !"  said  John  Robe,  pausing,  and 
looking  his  nephew  over.  "  I  thought  you 
were  here  to  see  me  *?" 

"  You  wouldn't  have  me  rude  when  I 
have  known  Sallie  all  my  life  ?"  Kit  asked. 


28  CHALMETTE 

"  Oh,  no, — not  rude.  Only  remember  that 
it's  bad  blood, — bad  blood." 

"  You  always  say  that,  sir,"  Kit  put 
in.  "  They're  held  by  others  a  very  old 
family." 

"  They  are,"  said  old  John  Robe ;  "  they 
are,  to  be  sure.  But  it's  her  blood,  you 
know.  She's  only  half  a  Maurice." 

"  Hers  ?"  said  Kit,  for  he  didn't  know  such 
a  story.  In  that  countryside,  where  gossip 
flew  about  swiftly  enough,  there  never  was  a 
hint  of  such  a  complication.  "  Eh  !  what 
d'ye  mean,  uncle  ?"  His  blood  suddenly 
was  warm.  He  was  angered  at  that  uncle 
for  the  first  time  in  many  a  year. 

"  Oh,  it's  nothing, — nothing  !"  John  Robe 
hastened  to  cry  out.  "  You  know  he  and  I 
are  not  very  good  friends." 

Kit  knew  this  very  well.  They  had  quar 
relled  and  fought  a  duel  years  since  over  a 
lady  who  afterwards  became  Mrs.  Maurice. 
(John  Robe  probably  had  lost  in  that  skir 
mish,  and  he  had  remained  a  bachelor.)  The 
lady  in  the  case  was  dead  these  many  years ; 
the  hope  of  the  Maurice  estate  was  in  Sallie, 


CHALMETTE  29 

the  daughter  of  a  certain  ne'er-do-weel 
brother, — his  probably  was  the  bad  blood  of 
which  nobody  spoke  openly.  Kit  knew 
these  things,  and  knowing  them  he  now  sat 
down  to  pacify  his  uncle  as  best  he  might. 
And  presently  they  were  talking  of  other 
matters, — of  the  great  Farewell  Address  they 
once  had  heard  together,  an  account  of  which 
circumstance  makes  the  opening  of  this  nar 
rative. 

Kit  can  see  this  old  gentleman  now ;  very 
tall,  broad-shouldered,  with  at  his  tongue's 
end  reminiscences  of  all  those  distinguished 
Americans  of  our  Revolutionary  period,  and, 
indeed,  of  France  at  that  time.  For,  still  a 
very  young  man,  John  Robe  had  been  one 
of  the  commissioners  to  France,  He  had 
known  Marie  Antoinette  in  the  heyday  of 
her  beauty,  in  the  splendor  of  her  position. 
He  had  been  acquainted  with  those  French 
gentlemen,  whose  names  are  now  historical 
figures,  who  had  ended  in  the  great  over 
throw.  The  Marquis  de  la  Fayette  had  been 
one  of  his  good  friends,  and  it's  a  matter  of 
some  pride  with  the  Robes  that  when  the 


30  CHALMETTE 

marquis  came  to  America  Westmore  was 
one  of  the  houses  he  counted  it  a  privilege 
to  visit.  But  of  all  the  history  since,  till 
English  and  French  cruisers  began  to  im 
press  our  seamen,  and  England  counted  us  a 
country  to  be  brought  back  to  the  colony, — 
all  this  had  been  of  little  moment  to  him, 
momentous  though  it  had  been.  He  had 
been  content  to  lead  the  life  of  a  Virginia 
country  gentleman  of  that  period,  looking 
out  more  or  less  for  his  nephew's  future.  Kit 
had  been  at  Yale  College  in  Connecticut, 
and  then  he  had  taken  the  grand  tour,  as 
some  Americans  did.  In  those  days  he  was 
the  friend  of  a  certain  New  York  gentleman, 
since  very  distinguished  in  letters,  a  Mr. 
Washington  Irving ;  and  Mr.  Irving  has  at 
tested  that  there  was  no  better,  no  finer  type 
of  the  Virginia  gentleman  than  John  Robe. 
More  than  a  mere  country  gentleman.  Had 
he  not  been  more  or  less  distinguished  in 
Congress  during  the  Revolutionary  period,  a 
staunch  adherent  of  our  first  great  chief? 
Now,  in  his  older  days,  he  was  filled  with  rare 
reminiscence  of  which  no  one  could  appre- 


CHALMETTE  31 

ciate  the  fine  flavor  better  than  Mr.  Irving. 
Or  perhaps  Kit  may  add  to  this  statement  of 
appreciation  his  nephew's,  who  hung  on  his 
lips  with  a  certain  interest  that  even  Sir 
Walter  Scott's  famous  novels  were  not  able 
to  arouse  later. 

Or  may  I  not  continue  here  some  descrip 
tion  of  Westmore  as  it  was  in  those  days  ? 
Now  the  old  house  keeps  its  distinction  as 
one  of  the  great  places  in  Virginia ;  but  in 
those  days  of  Kit's  youth  it  had,  as  well  as 
the  surroundings,  the  gayety,  now  gone,  the 
splendid  ladies  and  gentlemen  whom  we  now 
only  read  about.  And  many  of  them,  the 
most  interesting,  too,  never  reached  so  far  as 
the  histories.  Kit  remembered  particularly 
how  he  sat  listening  that  evening,  and  the 
old  servants,  with  certain  deferential  grins 
for  the  returned  young  master,  passed  in  and 
out,  till  at  last  came  the  hour  to  pay  that 
visit  at  the  Maurices. 

"  Well,  if  you  must  leave  me,"  said  John 
Robe,  rising  laboriously,  and  calling  to  Alex 
ander,  better  Alex,  his  man,  who  came  in  at 
the  master's  call. 


32  CHALMETTE 

"  I'm  not  to  be  with  you  long,"  said  John 
Robe.  "  And  to-morrow  you  start." 

"  To-morrow  I  start." 

"And  yet  you  persist  in  going  to  the 
Maurices.  Eh,  a  pretty  face,  a  pretty 
ankle." 

Kit  did  not  gainsay  that ;  for,  indeed,  why 
would  he  have  cared  to  leave  his  uncle  were 
it  not  as  the  master  of  Westmore  stated*? 
What  other  reasons  were  there,  indeed"? 
Yet,  as  in  the  moonshine  he  rode  over  to 
the  Maurices,  a  certain  remorse  gripped  his 
heart.  Why  should  he  be  running  away 
from  that  dear  old  uncle  on  this  last  night  ? 
And  memories  stirred  him,  as  they  will  some 
times  ;  regrets  for  what  has  been,  which  never 
may  be  again. 

At  his  journey's  end  he  was  met  by  a 
little  old  man,  who  wore  a  wig,  a  certain 
parchment-like  face,  a  manner  interested  and 
courtly,  a  carefulness  in  dress,  a  certain  sly 
ness  in  the  eyes  that  Kit  did  not  like. 

"  Sallie  will  be  down  directly,"  said  Philip 
Maurice.  "  I  hear  you  have  distinguished 
yourself." 


CHALMETTE  33 

"  Oh,  I  don't  know,"  the  captain  replied. 
"  It's  easy  to  get  notice  in  these  times." 

"  Yes,  of  some  sort  or  another,"  the  host 
replied,  "very  easy.  Oh,  I  hear  you  are 
going  to  New  Orleans.  Dan !" — and  a 
negro  servant  appeared, — "a  note  I  left  on 
my  desk. 

"  There's  a  man  there  of  considerable  im 
portance, — a  rich,  influential  man,  though 
he  has  been  branded  a  pirate.  Hem  !  Mr. 
Christopher,  this  is  a  letter  introducing  you 
to  Mr.  Jean  Lantte,  of  New  Orleans." 

"  I  have  heard  the  name,"  Kit  answered. 
"  Ah,  yes,  that  man  !" 

"  Oh,  it  won't  hurt  you  ;  he's  the  most  in 
fluential  man  in  Louisiana,  I  tell  you." 

But  Kit  was  thinking.  He  himself  will 
tell  you  later  what  that  name  meant.  What 
name,  indeed,  more  influential  ?  What  name 
more  significant  for  riches  gained  by  illicit 
means  ?  And  yet  Mr.  Maurice  doubtless  was 
right  about  the  usefulness  of  such  a  letter. 
Kit  pocketed  it  with  a  bow.  And  just  then 
the  mistress  of  the  house  entered,  very  sweet 
and  pretty  in  her  simple  gown. 

3 


34  CHALMETTE 

But  Kit  was  not  to  have  her  by  himself. 
Sam  Landers  was  expected.  And  how  Sam 
Landers  entered  you  may  like  to  know ;  a 
rough,  good-hearted,  red-faced — for  a  hard- 
drinking — fellow ;  one  of  the  richest  proprie 
tors  in  the  State.  And  he  was  making  love 
to  Sallie  ?  Kit  had  no  more  time  to  say 
what  he  might  have  wished  to  say. 

Yet  he  bore  away  with  him  a  picture  of 
her  as  she  stood  against  the  light  from  the 
opened  hall-door. 

"  I  am  sorry  to  have  you  go,  Kit." 

"  Good-by,  Sallie." 

"You'll  do  your  part?" 

"  Oh,  I'll  try,"  said  he,  pressing  her  hand. 
"  Good-by,  Sallie." 

And  he  rode  away  to  the  wars  again, — to 
those  events  which  were  to  so  change  him ; 
to  the  engrossing  life  outside,  beyond  that 
quiet  rurality. 

But  it's  well  for  a  man  to  hold  one  girl 
superior  to  the  others,  particularly  when  she 
really  is  so.  Such  a  devotion  keeps  one 
sometimes  from  those  errors  which  leave 
moral  scars. 


CHALMETTE  35 

And  Kit  rode  away  to  the  wars  again,  I 
have  said.  What  those  wars  were, — what 
happened  to  him, — how  strange  things  oc 
curred  to  him, — are  not  all  these  things  the 
subjects  of  this  veracious  history  ? 

And,  oh,  the  old  days  !  And,  oh,  the  joys 
of  living  when  the  old  perplexities,  the  old 
defeats,  the  old  victories  held  our  hearts ! 


CHAPTER  II 

NEW   ORLEANS 

You  doubtless  know  so  well  the  situation* 
in  that  year  of  1814  that  I  need  not  recall 
the  circumstances  leading  Captain  Christo 
pher  Robe  to  Louisiana.  We  were  then, 
after  some  years  of  tedious  war,  apparently 
as  little  near  the  end  as  at  the  beginning. 
To  be  sure,  we  had  established  our  prestige 
as  a  sea-power  of  the  first  rank.  But  it 
makes  Kit's  heart  sick  now  to  recall  all  the 
governmental  weaknesses, — delays,  inappre- 
ciation  of  our  lack  of  coast  defences,  or  that 
military,  not  civil,  training  makes  the  captain, 
— all  the  follies  committed  in  the  name  of 
the  United  Government.  We  had  not  been 
able  to  avoid  the  disgrace  of  the  burning  of 
our  Capitol,  nor  the  ravage  of  its  neighbor 
hood.  Nor  has  there  been  more  than  hinted, 
in  describing  Kit's  little  visit  to  Westmore, 
36 


CHALMETTE  37 

the   condition  of  feeling,  the   consternation 
prevailing  there. 

Now  the  whole  British  armament  on  our 
coast  was  directed  against  far-away  Louisiana, 
which  we  had  bought  so  recently  from  Na 
poleon,  and  where  there  was  among  the 
French  and  the  Spanish  people  small  liking 
for  the  United  States.  The  government 
sent  down  four  troops  of  regulars,  placed 
Commodore  Patterson  in  command  of  the 
naval  defences,  and  ordered  out  the  State 
militia  of  about  a  thousand.  Then  they  ap 
pointed  General  Andrew  Jackson  to  com 
mand  the  Southwest.  It  had  chanced  that 
young  Captain  Robe  had  once  served  with 
General  Jackson  and  had  done  a  service 
which  the  general  remembered.  Kit  always 
said  that  under  the  general's  exterior  he  saw 
those  remarkable  abilities  which  made  him 
one  of  the  most  efficient  generals,  and  later, 
for  all  his  peculiarities,  one  of  the  greatest 
Presidents  of  the  United  States.  What  that 
particular  service  was  need  not  be  recounted 
here.  A  man  may  not  care  to  repeat  vainly 
what  is  out  of  the  course  of  the  particular 


38  CHALMETTE 

story  he  is  telling.  But  when  Captain  Robe 
applied  for  service  in  Louisiana,  his  imagina 
tion  having  been  fired  by  the  situation  there, 
General  Jackson  himself  seconded  the  prop 
osition,  and  so  it  chanced  that  he  was  ordered 
to  report  at  New  Orleans  to  wait  further 
advices. 

Robe  has  often  related  how  splendid  the 
city  seemed  after  his  long  journey  thither ; 
how  the  strange  street  crowds,  so  contrasted 
in  color  and  tongues,  affected  him  ;  how  he 
found  a  gayety,  a  luxury,  an  ease  of  manner, 
that  no  part  of  America  afforded  the  like. 
He  fell  easily  into  the  ways  of  that  generous 
hospitality.  For  even  in  the  day  of  fear  the 
Creoles  did  not  forget  that  life  is  charming, 
that  one  should  be  gay.  He  attended  many 
balls  and  functions,  for  he  had  many  invita 
tions,  having  been  well  introduced.  He 
listened  to  the  talk  in  coffee-houses,  to  reports 
that  many  seemed  to  wish  to  believe  that  the 
red  and  black  Spanish  flag  would  soon  again 
float  over  the  devoted  town. 

This  General  Jackson  couldn't  defend 
them,  they  said ;  bah  !  a  rough  frontier  fighter 


CHALMETTE  39 

against  the  Peninsular  veterans,  against  the 
fleet  that  had  fought  under  Nelson.  'Twas 
ridiculous  in  the  extreme.  And  there  would 
follow  ejaculations  and  a  rush  of  language 
that  Kit  couldn't  understand.  For  though 
our  young  captain  had  a  fair  schooling  in 
Latin,  he  hardly  knew  Spanish  from  French, 
and  so  you  will  find  in  this  account  naught 
but  plain  English.  And  what  is  more,  they 
went  on,  these  English  have  the  Indians,  and, 
— horror  of  horrors  ! — they  will  liberate  the 
slaves.  And  then  they  would  lean  forward 
and  tell  in  English,  for  our  young  captain's 
benefit,  fearsome  tales  of  the  massacres  in 
San  Domingo,  where  the  slaves  had  risen 
against  their  masters.  Many  a  New  Orleans 
family  came  from  San  Domingo,  and  the 
stories  of  that  horrid  affair, — of  the  atrocities 
committed,  of  the  narrow  escapes, — were  told 
over  again  and  again.  British  regulars  were 
at  Pensacola.  British  ships  were  in  the  Gulf. 
Ah,  what  would  happen  to  this  New  Or 
leans,  that  had  passed  from  Spaniard  to 
Frenchman,  from  Frenchman  to  Yankee  ! 
Kit  being  but  a  poor  writer,  being  eager 


40  CHALMETTE 

to  get  to  his  own  adventures,  must  despair  of 
describing  all  he  saw  in  that  interesting  city 
in  those  exciting  days;  where  fear  neither 
stopped  the  theatres  nor  the  active  challenge 
of  black  eyes,  to  some  of  whose  owners  he 
proceeded  to  make  himself  agreeable.  That 
he  succeeded  it  is  not  for  himself  to  say. 

Of  course,  to  resume  his  narrative,  he  re 
ported,  and  then  delivered  some  despatches 
he  was  bearer  of  to  that  distinguished  Gov 
ernor  Claiborne,  one  of  the  great  American 
names.  At  Governor  Claiborne's  he  met  a 
certain  old  acquaintance,  a  Dennis  Cafferty, 
whom  he  had  known  in  New  Haven.  Den 
nis  was  a  calm,  matter-of-fact  person ;  very 
honest  and  strong  in  every  way,  who  had  a 
certain  scorn  for  this  pleasure-loving  city. 
The  two  friends  talked  it  over  many  times, 
Kit  defending  his  point  of  view,  but  Dennis 
came  from  a  family  of  North  of  Ireland 
Presbyterians  and  stood  by  his  own. 

"  Look,  Kit,  you'll  be  going  about  too 
much,"  he  said.  "  It's  easy  to  fall  here.  Yes, 
easy  enough,  I  know.  And  you'll  end  in  a 
duel,  I  tell  ye." 


CHALMETTE  41 

Kit  only  laughed  at  this,  and,  being  a 
lover  of  pleasure  and  having  been  brought 
up  to  certain  easy-going  Virginian  traditions, 
he  found  a  rather  more  congenial  companion 
in  a  certain  young  gentleman, — a  Raoul 
Deschamps, — whom  he  met  at  Mrs.  Clai- 
borne's,  herself  a  very  charming  lady.  I  am 
not  sure  that  Kit  liked  this  tall,  thin,  black- 
eyed  Deschamps  so  well  at  first,  but  they 
ended  by  discovering  certain  tastes  in  com 
mon.  Kit  was  not  averse  to  a  bit  of 
gaming.  You  could  have  that  in  New  Or 
leans.  He  was  not  opposed  to  attending 
those  wonderful  public  balls,  and  Deschamps 
opened  the  way. 

"  You'd  reconcile  us  to  Americans,  you 
Virginians,"  Deschamps  said  one  day  after 
the  theatre.  New  Orleans  loved  the  play 
then  as  well  as  now. 

"  I  seem  to  be  very  well  acquainted  now," 
said  Kit.  "  But  I  haven't  presented  one  of 
my  letters  to  your  great  pirate,  Lafitte." 

"  Ah,  that's  wrong,"  said  Deschamps,  smil 
ing,  and  showing  his  fine  white  teeth  ;  "  Jean 
Lafitte  is  one  of  the  greatest  financiers  in  the 


42  CHALMETTE 

world.  Why,  two-thirds  of  us  in  New  Or 
leans  owe  whatever  we  have  to  the  trade  he 
has  made  possible." 

"  Governor  Claiborne  has  launched  enough 
proclamations  against  him.  General  Jack 
son  has  called  him  a  '  hellish  bandit,' "  quoth 
Robe. 

"  Ugh,"  said  Deschamps.  "  Don't  you 
know,  my  Kit,  that  an  opinion  is  just  the 
color  of  a  man's  interest.  You  say  you 
have  a  letter  for  him.  Let  me  see  it, 
pray." 

And  Kit  handed  him  the  letter  from  Mr. 
Maurice  to  Jean  Lafitte  : 

"  My  DEAR  SIR, — This  will  introduce  to  your  good 
favor  Mr.  Christopher  Robe,  of  the  army,  who  is  a 
neighbor  of  ours  and  heir  of  the  Westmore  estates,  of 
which  you  know. 

"Hoping  that  you  maybe  well  and  that  your  affairs 
may  be  as  usually  prosperous, 
"I  am 

"  Yours  faithfully, 

"  PHILIP  MAURICE." 

As  Deschamps  read  it  he  looked  up  quickly. 
"  I  will  take  you  around  there  now." 


CHALMETTE  43 

"  Where  ?"  asked  Kit,  wondering ;  "  he's 
outlawed." 

"  What's  the  difference  ?  The  govern 
ment  owes  too  much  to  him.  He's  safe 
enough." 

"  But  the  other  brother,  Pierre  Lafitte,  is 
in  prison  without  bail." 

"What's  the  difference?"  Raoul  Des- 
champs  said  again.  "  I  know  he's  here. 
Don't  disregard  such  an  invitation.  He's  a 
man  to  know, — the  most  powerful  in  New 
Orleans, — a  most  agreeable  gentleman." 

"  You  remember  I  am  an  officer  of  the 
United  States,"  Kit  said,  still  hesitating. 

"  I  don't  see  that  you  commit  yourself  by 
so  simple  an  affair  as  a  visit,"  said  the  other. 

"  But  I  may  feel  bound  to  report  that  I 
have  seen  him." 

"  They  know  that  well  enough,  but  they 
don't  dare  to  touch  him.  You  will  see  a 
man  who  has  made  the  trade  of  the  Missis 
sippi  Valley." 

"  Well,"  said  Kit,  "  it's  good  of  you,  and, 
of  course,  I  shall  be  delighted." 

And  they  went  out  into  the  warm  night, 


44  CHALMETTE 

where  the  varied  crowd  was  still  pushing, 
laughing,  jesting,  with  now  and  then  a  more 
serious  tone  ;  such  a  wonderful  crowd  as  you 
cannot  see  of  these  days :  .negro  women  with 
bright  Madras  handkerchiefs  ;  a  finely-dressed 
gentleman  contrasted  with  a  rough  sailor,  or 
a  trapper,  gaunt,  in  his  rough  hunting  clothes. 
For  New  Orleans  was  not  yet  asleep,  as  Kit 
knew  of  other  nights  like  this.  He  had 
found  an  elegance,  an  extravagance  he  never 
had  before  fancied,  reaching  down  into  the 
lower  classes.  And  this  night  there  had 
been  many  festivities,  three  balls,  one  of  the 
negroes,  another  of  the  quadroons,  and  an 
other  of  the  gentle  folk,  which  the  friends 
had  not  attended. 

As  they  passed  on  they  came  across  a 
little  party  preceded  by  three  sturdy  blacks, 
whose  swinging  lanterns  showed  two  ladies 
following,  with,  at  their  heels,  two  chattering 
maids  dangling  their  mistresses'  slippers.  Kit 
caught  a  glimpse  of  a  pretty  ankle,  of  dark, 
charming  eyes,  of  a  low,  narrow  brow  framed 
by  black  hair,  of  a  thin,  pale  face,  and  a  little 
mouth  with  enticing  lips,  wondrous  red 


CHALMETTE  45 

against  the  pale  face ;  the  figure  rather  tall 
and  full. 

How  in  some  first  impressions,  even  by  a 
swinging  lantern,  do  some  faces  leave  them 
selves  fixed  in  your  memory,  never  to  be 
entirely  obliterated  from  that  tablet !  You 
may  pass  many  thousands  a  day,  and  but 
one,  for  some  strange  reason  of  personality, 
is  recorded  clearly  by  your  eyes. 

Deschamps  stopped  now  on  the  way  to 
that  late  visit.  He  was  bowing  in  the  most 
stately  manner  possible, — bending  low ;  the 
fashion  has  gone  out  now  with  many  good 
old  fashions ;  manners  began  to  deteriorate 
in  the  degree  that  formality  in  dress  was 
given  up,  with  gentlemen's  silk  stockings  and 
shoes  with  silver  and  gold  buckles. 

The  blacks  stopped  as  if  by  magic.  The 
elder^-lady  greeted  Kit's  friend  very  finely, 
with  a  smile  through  her  rouge.  She  was 
rather  old,  Kit  fancied,  and  highly  colored 
in  complexion,  and  gowned  like  a  bird  of 
paradise.  Her  voice  came  out  thin  and  a  bit 
cracked,  in  French.  In  the  background  the 
younger  lady  sent  Kit  a  coquettish  smile. 


46  CHALMETTE 

Deschamps  turned. 

"  Madame  de  Renier,  Captain  Christopher 
Robe,  the  Virginia  Robes,  and  Mademoiselle 
Marie  de  Renier." 

Madame  bowed  graciously,  and  said  in 
very  good  English  that,  indeed,  she  was 
glad  to  meet  one  of  Mr.  Deschamps's  friends, 
particularly  when  he  was  a  Virginia  Robe. 
(Now  I  wonder  if  she  really  ever  had  heard 
the  name  before.)  Mademoiselle  inclined 
her  pretty,  bird-like  head  and  softly  giggled. 
It  was,  I  assure  you,  a  most  delightful  giggle, 
like  a  maiden's  light  heart  bubbling  over, 
and  Kit  found  his  mind  well  fixed  on  the 
owner  of  it.  (And  all  this  proves  that  what 
Sallie  had  said  about  him  may  have  been 
right.  Had  she  known  him  better  than  he 
knew  himself?)  Kit  thought,  at  any  rate, 
that  Mademoiselle  de  Renier  was  a  very  en 
ticing  person.  Madame  in  the  mean  time 
was  assuring  Mr.  Deschamps  that  she  would 
be  delighted  to  have  him  bring  his  friend ; 
that  they  would  like  to  have  them  both 
down  next  week  for  two  days  on  the  plan 
tation. 


CHALMETTE  47 

She  turned  with  a  bow,  ordering  her  ser 
vants  on.  Mademoiselle  looked  back  rogu 
ishly  over  her  shoulder.  And  they  went  on 
to  the  accompaniment  of  swinging  lanterns. 

"  A  deucedly  pretty  girl,"  said  Kit. 

"  Many  have  thought  so  much,"  Mr. 
Raoul  assented.  "  We'll  see  more  of  her. 
Ah,  how  she  dances  !  What  eyes  she  has  !" 

"  They  were  interesting,"  Kit  agreed. 

"  Now  we  are  to  Mr.  Lafitte's,"  said  Des- 
champs. 

Robe  will  not  attempt  to  describe  where 
the  house  of  that  important  person — that 
rascal  or  patriot — happened  to  be.  They 
had  a  way  of  numbering  streets  very  badly, 
or  not  at  all,  in  New  Orleans  of  those  days, 
and  it's  sufficient  to  say  that  they  came  to  a 
dwelling  of  some  pretension.  Nor  was  there 
much  caution  in  admitting  them,  though 
there  might  be  a  price  on  the  owner's  head. 
The  interior  was  surprising  in  the  luxury  of 
its  appointments,  though  Deschamps  whis 
pered  to  Kit  that  he  should  see  the  planta 
tion  at  the  Grande  Terre  on  the  Bay  of  Bar- 
ataria. 


48  CHALMETTE 

Now,  while  Kit  waits  to  see  this  man  to 
whom  he  bore  the  letter, — wondering  what 
the  great  manager  of  the  Barataria  enterprise 
could  be  like ;  this  pirate  and  outlaw,  who 
yet  was  declared  a  polished  gentleman, — 
let  us  pause  to  describe  who  he  was. 

Do  you  remember  the  tales  of  pirates  who 
infested  the  Gulf;  all  those  bloody  events' 
that  boys  like  to  listen  to  with  wide  eyes  ? 
Well,  a  time  came  when  his  British  Majesty 
frightened  them  from  their  quondam  resorts, 
and  they  found  in  the  innumerable  winding 
inter  ways  between  the  mouth  of  the  Missis 
sippi  and  the  Bayou  La  Fourche  a  locality 
where  their  ships  could  slip  in  and  out.  Pro 
tected  by  the  narrow  strip  of  land,  the  Grand 
Terre,  was  the  Bay  of  Barataria.  Here  this 
gentry  made  a  settlement,  a  refuge,  a  home, 
a  trading-post.  The  Mississippi  could  dis 
tribute  their  wares  over  a  continent.  Not 
far  away  was  the  city,  made  up  of  a  mixed 
population  from  the  four  corners  of  the 
earth,  not  too  anxious  to  inquire  into  meum 
and  tuum. 

In  those  days  two  shrewd  brothers,  Jean 


CHALMETTE  49 

and  Pierre  Lafitte,  came  from  Bayonne  to 
better  their  fortunes.  From  blacksmiths, 
having  the  sense  of  trade,  they  became  pro 
prietors,  and  from  disposing  of  a  cargo  for 
some  individual  owner,  they  became  the 
bankers  and  agents  of  them  all,  and  directly 
the  managers  of  the  commercial  community 
which  grew  up  around  Baratarian  Bay, — 
Barataria. 

And  how  was  that  merchandise  acquired  ? 
Much  on  the  high  seas,  much  from  looted 
merchantmen  ;  much,  indeed,  bought  some 
where  legitimately,  perhaps  for  the  proper 
coupled  with  the  less  considerable  profit  of 
paying  no  duties.  There  were  few  families 
in  New  Orleans  not  in  some  way  dependent 
on  that  trade,  whatever  its  source, — in  piracy 
or  in  smuggling ;  in  any  view  it  was  lawless 
enough.  No  question  was  made  that  much, 
as  I  have  said,  was  from  pirates'  spoils,  even 
if  the  Baratarians  declared  that  they  were 
very  proper  privateers,  with  papers  from  the 
newly-revolted  Spanish  colonies  privileging 
them  to  prey  on  Spanish  commerce.  'Twas 
a  generally-accepted  fact  that  they  made  no 


50  CHALMETTE 

particular  distinction  about  the  nationality  of 
the  vessel  could  they  get  it  and  scuttle  it  and 
leave  no  soul  to  tell  the  story.  In  Kit's  boy 
hood  those  who  sailed  the  Gulf  ran  the  con 
tinual  risk  of  pirates,  and  we  in  these  days  can 
hardly  understand  how  that  part  of  the  world 
has  changed.  We  cannot  fancy  the  romance, 
the  terror  of  it  then. 

The  power  and  wealth  of  Barataria  be 
came  so  prodigious  that  in  1813,  the  pre 
ceding  year,  Governor  Claiborne  issued  a 
proclamation  denouncing  it  all.  But  who 
minded  that?  Who  gave  so  lavishly  to 
charity  as  the  two  Lafittes?  And  they 
walked  the  streets  with  their  heads  high,  the 
very  pictures  of  success.  And  the  ships  still 
brought  in  wines,  silks,  slaves,  everything, 
which  were  as  openly  auctioned  as  ever.  A 
British  sloop-of-war  tried  its  hand  at  two 
of  the  Baratarian  vessels  and  was  vigorously 
driven  away.  The  Baratarians  were  prepared 
to  fight,  like  an  independent  nationality,  as, 
indeed,  made  up  of  all  nations,  they  nearly 
were.  A  revenue  collector  and  one  of  his 
men  were  killed.  When  the  governor  asked 


CHALMETTE  51 

the  Legislature  for  a  force  to  clear  out  this 
nest  of  illicit  trade  and  piracy,  the  legisla 
tors  remembered — scandal  ran — their  master. 
And  now,  when  Kit  paid  his  visit,  the  two 
leaders,  Jean  and  Pierre  Lafitte,  were  crimi 
nally  indicted, — Pierre  in  the  calaboose  with 
out  bail,  and  Jean  somewhere,  a  fugitive.  A 
fugitive,  did  I  say?  It  appeared  that  this 
Jean  was  actually  in  New  Orleans,  and  here 
was  our  captain  of  the  army  paying  him  a 
visit.  The  trial  was  even  then  going  on. 
The  clever  Jean  had  employed  celebrated 
counsel,  one  no  less  than  the  district  attor 
ney,  who  resigned  his  position  of  public 
prosecutor  for  a  twenty-thousand-dollar  fee. 
Pirates,  my  dear  Louisianians  !  These  men  be 
patriots,  your  best  citizens,  who  are  building 
the  commercial  prestige  and  greatness  of 
your  State. 

Kit,  you  may  be  sure,  knew  these  stories, 
and  many  more  that  I  have  not  put  down 
here,  and  he  had  hesitated  when  Mr.  Maurice 
had  given  him  the  letter.  But  now  Raoui 
Deschamps  had  said  that  Mr.  Jean  Lafitte 
would  be  in,  like  any  ordinary  citizen ;  and 


52  CHALMETTE 

he  was  actually  awaiting  him  at  this  late 
hour  of  the  evening.  Deschamps  had  sent 
up  his  name  and  Kit's  letter,  and  the  ser 
vant,  a  suave  mulatto,  brought  back  word 
that  his  master  would  see  the  gentlemen. 
There  was  no  attempt  at  evasion. 

What  had  Kit  expected  to  see  in  this  for 
midable  person  ?  There  entered  shortly  a* 
black-haired,  black-eyed  man, — what  pene 
trating,  fine,  black  eyes  ! — fair-complexioned, 
splendid-mannered,  and  attired  like  any  gen 
tleman  of  New  Orleans  back  from  some 
occasion.  His  voice  was  gentle  and  per 
suasive. 

Yes,  he  had  known  Mr.  Maurice  in  other 
days,  and  he  was  glad  to  know  any  one  of 
Mr.  Maurice's  friends,  particularly  when  he 
chanced  to  be  a  member  of  the  army  which 
was  to  defend  New  Orleans  from  the  enemy. 
Possibly  Kit  stared.  Was  this  the  outlaw, — 
this  proper  gentleman,  voicing  fine,  patriotic 
phrases  ? 

"  I  want  to  know  you  all,"  he  went  on  to 
the  young  Virginian.  "  I  want  you  to  be  on 
my  side  as  opposed  to  the  governor's, — for, 


CHALMETTE  53 

hem !  the  governor  is  mistaken  in  some 
things." 

Kit  thought  he  must  be.  His  own  re 
serve  thawed.  This  winning  gentleman  car 
ried  him  outside  of  himself;  and  Raoul  Des- 
champs  sat  in  the  corner  and  smiled. 

"  The  governor  must  know  that  I  can 
help  him  in  this  crisis, — that  I  have  armed 
men  to  put  in  the  field,"  our  gentleman  went 
on  almost  nonchalantly. 

But  at  the  moment  there  came  a  great 
pounding  and  rattling.  The  mulatto  ser 
vant  rushed  in,  whispering  something  to  his 
master,  whose  voice  came  out  rather  fiercely : 

"  They  have  dared  !" 

A  keen,  angry  light  was  in  his  eyes. 

"  They  have  dared !"  said  Raoul,  rising ; 
and  then  he  said  something  rapidly  in 
French.  The  host  nodded,  muttered  a  few 
words  low  to  Raoul,  and  then  turned  to  Kit 
without  any  change  of  manner. 

"  I  regret  that  our  first  interview  should  be 
so  interrupted,  Mr.  Robe,"  and  he  extended 
his  hand  and  was  gone, — calm,  strong,  mas 
terful. 


54  CHALMETTE 

"  He  is  safe  enough,"  said  Deschamps  then. 

"  You  mean  they  are  here  to  arrest  him  ?" 
Captain  Robe  asked. 

"  They  can't.  He  has  only  to  step  out 
of  a  door  that  opens  into  the  adjoining 
house, — a  door  they  don't  know  about, — and 
he  is  among  the  French.  Is  there  a  Creole 
who  would  betray  Jean  Lafitte  ?  He  was 
here  to  see  his  attorney." 

The  knocking  had  stopped ;  there  was  the 
clatter  of  feet  outside.  Voices  sounded. 
Presently  there  entered  Kit's  friend,  Dennis 
CafFerty,  of  the  militia,  with  behind  him 
John  Turnbull,  a  Boston  man,  on  the  gov 
ernor's  staff. 

Cafferty  paused  in  some  amazement  at  his 
friend. 

"  He  is  not  here  ?"  he  asked. 

"No,  you  can't  find  him,"  Raoul  Des 
champs  said.  "  I  refer  you  to  Mr.  Grymes, 
his  lawyer." 

"  I  think  you  are  right,"  the  other  said ; 
"  a  foolish  undertaking.  The  sheriff  wouldn't 
do  it.  The  governor  thought  he  would  try 
himself  to  entrap  his  old  foe." 


CHALMETTE  55 

"  Well,  I  am  sorry,"  Deschamps  laughed. 
"  We  will  go  with  you  if  you  don't  mind." 

Outside  Cafferty  took  Kit  by  the  arm. 

"  It's  indiscreet  of  you  to  stand  with  their 
party.  The  fall  of  Barataria  will  make  some 
pretty  scandals  in  New  Orleans.  Remember, 
your  orders  may  come  any  time.  This  may 
ruin  you  with  General  Jackson." 

"Oh,  I  can  care  for  myself,"  the  Vir 
ginian  retorted  with  some  spirit.  "  But  you 
are  a  good  fellow,  Dennis,"  he  added. 

"  You  go  about  too  much ;  you  play  too 
much ;  you  care  too  much  for  pleasure,"  his 
friend  retorted. 

"  Oh,  I'll  not  lose  my  temper  with  you. 
We  Robes  have  always  gone  our  own  ways, 
— such  as  they  are.  And  so  long  as  two-thirds 
of  New  Orleans  are  on  the  side  of  the  La- 
fittes,  I  don't  see  what  difference  this  can 
make  to  me.  But,  Dennis,  be  a  good  fel 
low  ;  I'm  curious.  What  can  they  want  of 
me?" 

"  Pooh  !"  said  Dennis,  "  it's  their  policy  to 
stand  well  with  every  man,  not  knowing 
when  they  may  wish  to  use  him.  As  for 


56  CHALMETTE 

you,  you  may  influence  your  uncle's  opinion, 
and  your  uncle  stands  well  with  Congress." 

"  I  say,"  Raoul  cried  out  here,  "  you 
failed !" 

They  were  walking  in  the  dim  streets  with 
a  dozen  men  of  the  governor's  posse.  If  the 
governor  were  disregarding  the  municipal  au 
thorities,  it  wouldn't  matter, — if  he  could  get 
Jean  Lafitte  lodged  with  his  brother  Pierre 
in  the  calaboose. 

"  Yes,  we've  failed  in  several  things. 
Among  others,  Pierre  Lafitte  is  no  longer  in 
jail." 

"  Escaped !"  Raoul  cried  in  affected  sur 
prise  ;  for  Kit  saw  that  he  had  known. 

"  Yes,"  said  CafTerty,  sullenly.  "  Are  you 
coming  with  Turnbull  and  me,  Kit  ?" 

No,  Kit  had  an  engagement  with  Mr. 
Deschamps ;  and  he  and  Mr.  D.  went  laugh 
ing  away  arm  in  arm.  Of  course,  these  vio 
lations  of  the  law  were  very  serious.  But 
why  should  you  have  a  wry  face  and  man 
ners  towards  those  whose  hospitality  is  giving 
you  an  agreeable  time  ?  When  it  came  to 
the  point  of  the  United  States  going  down 


CHALMETTE  57 

to  clear  out  this  Barataria,  if  Kit  had  an 
appointment  there,  he  would  go  down  there 
cheerfully.  But  he  had  not  been  bred  in  the 
school  of  New  England  prejudice  of  Turn- 
bull  and  the  Irish-Scot's  son.  He  was  a 
Virginian,  with  a  Virginian's  liberal  views  on 
certain  matters. 

And  where  did  they  go  ?  I  will  not  tell 
you  all  the  places  they  went  to  that  night. 
They  were,  I  declare,  no  worse  than  most  of 
us  ;  at  least,  Kit  was  not.  They  found  them 
selves  at  last  over  the  cards  among  a  crowd 
of  gentlemen,  among  whom  was  Mr.  Grymes, 
the  lawyer,  who  told  them  that  he  and  Mr. 
Livingston  certainly  would  gain  the  cases  of 
the  Lafittes,  at  which  a  cheer  ran  up. 

"  But  Jean  takes  a  risk  in  coming  up 
here  ?"  one  asked. 

*'  Did  he  ever  refuse  a  risk  ?"  another  an 
swered.  "  It's  not  fear  of  New  Orleans,  but 
his  duty  in  Barataria,  which  keeps  him 
there." 

"  Jean  Lafitte  fear  the  State  government ! 
Why,  my  friends,  he  controls  that  govern 
ment." 


58  CHALMETTE 

As  for  Kit,  I  am  afraid  he  lost  more  than 
he  ought.  I  am  afraid  that  Simon  Wesley — 
bless  his  honest,  white  soul  in  a  black  body ! 
— put  his  master  to  bed  tipsy. 

At  least,  late  the  next  morning  Kit  awoke 
with  an  aching  head.  And  then  he  fell  to 
thinking  of  Sallie  back  there  in  Virginia. 
He  remembered  all  he  had  said,  and,  if  not 
actually  said,  implied  to  her.  He  felt  rather 
miserable  and  mean-spirited.  But  after  he 
had  eaten  he  began  to  feel  better.  Memory 
of  Sallie  was  chased  out  of  his  mind,  to  be 
replaced  by  the  dark-eyed  girl  whom  he 
had  seen  in  the  flaring  lantern-light.  He 
repeated  the  name,  Marie  de  Renier ;  and 
then  he  went  out  to  keep  an  appointment 
with  Raoul.  His  orders  would  come  soon 
enough.  He  would  make  the  most  of  the 
pleasures  of  the  gay  city. 

And  the  sun  was  shining ;  and  New  Or 
leans  was  chattering  and  smiling. 


CHAPTER   III 

MADEMOISELLE  DE  RENTER 

MADEMOISELLE  DE  RENIER  and  Robe  slipped 
easily  into  acquaintanceship.  She  had  a 
way,  inherited  from  a  long  line  of  charming 
women,  of  holding  men's  attention.  And, 
indeed,  there  was  in  Kit's  time  few  more 
entertaining  young  ladies ;  I  declare,  women 
are  not  what  they  were  in  his  youth,  or  men 
either.  'Tis  the  fashion  to  say  that  you  are 
finer,  better  now.  Well,  it  may  be.  Robe 
does  not  agree  with  you.  And  as  for  New 
Orleans,  'twas  a  Paris  transplanted.  The 
New  Orleans  of  the  early  part  of  the  cen 
tury  was  a  surprise,  indeed,  with  its  delightful 
social  sophistication. 

I  have  left  Robe  in  a  way  that  made  his 
friends,  Dennis  Cafferty  and  John  Turnbull, 
shake  their  heads.  He  was  going  to  the 
dogs  ;  he  was  too  often  at  the  gaming-tables  ; 
you  could  see  him  now  and  then  with  cheeks 

59 


60  CHALMETTE 

flushed,  his  steps  a  bit  unsteady.  I  am  sure 
it  was  a  case  deplorable  enough.  But  it's 
an  ordeal  that  most  of  us  pass  through 
sooner  or  later.  Possibly  we  should  be 
purer  of  heart  if  we  didn't ;  but  'tis  the  way 
of  life  ;  and  generous,  honest  souls  are  caught 
in  this  net  of  pleasure,  to  be  made  perhaps, 
brutal  and  selfish.  'Tis  occurring  every  day, 
and  it  will  to  the  world's  end.  You  can't 
legislate  it  or  preach  it  out ;  every  man  must 
solve  his  own  problems  in  his  own  way. 
And  if  the  morality  were  easy  in  New  Orleans 
then,  it  was  easy  in  London  and  in  Paris  in 
all  conscience.  Here,  in  a  land  of  sunshine 
and  nature's  glory,  was  the  old  world  itself, 
with  little  of  that  hard  fight  with  primeval 
conditions  which  made  the  intrepid  strength 
of  New  England,  the  Middle  States,  and  the 
West.  Yet  wait  for  this  history's  course ; 
you  will  find  as  strong  and  fine  a  fight, — in 
volving  the  greatest  self-sacrifice, — you  will 
listen  to  a  victory  as  great,  I  think,  as  any 
Homer  ever  sang.  But  here  I  am  anticipat 
ing,  and  forgetting  that  this  story  is  mine  only 
so  far  as  Kit's  fortunes  were  involved  with  it. 


CHALMETTE  61 

You  may  imagine  him  very  much  with 
the  De  Reniers,  and  Mademoiselle  bore  out 
the  first  impression  he  had  of  her.  She  had 
all  the  piquancies,  the  little  graces,  which 
may  entice  a  man.  She  inherited  them, 
indeed.  Madame  herself  was  of  a  very 
good  family,  which  that  atrocious  Revolu 
tion  had  brought  to  New  Orleans.  Madame 
in  her  day  had  her  score  of  suitors,  though 
you  might  not  always  suspect  it  when  you 
saw  her  in  the  morning,  as  Kit  did.  He 
passed  several  days  on  the  De  Renier  planta 
tion.  He  saw  a  great  deal  of  Mademoiselle 
with  an  ever-increasing  admiration.  The 
one  trouble  was  that  there  were  too  many 
suitors.  Among  these  was  a  certain  Louis 
Ronald,  a  little,  agile  man  of  great  estate,  a 
celebrated  swordsman.  At  thirty  he  was 
said  to  have  killed  three  men.  Our  Virginian 
took  a  dislike  to  him  from  the  first ;  it  was  as 
instinctive  as  his  liking  for  Mademoiselle. 

And  she  smiled  and  encouraged  them  all. 
Was  there  ever  such  a  capricious  little  flirt  ? 
Was  there  ever,  to  be  truthful,  in  the  end  a 
more  devoted  wife  ?  Those  flirtatious  dam- 


62  CHALMETTE 

sels  sometimes  have  the  surest  faith.  But 
Mademoiselle  passed  through  many  experi 
ences  before  she  reached  that  point. 

"  How  do  you  like  us  down  here  ?"  she 
asked  one  day,  turning  her  pleading  eyes  on 
the  Virginian.  They  were  alone  for  a 
moment  in  a  delicious  glade.  You  might 
have  fancied  a  thousand  little  loves  flitting' 
about  in  the  shrubbery. 

"  How  do  I  like  you  ?"  said  Kit.  "  I  love 
you."  And  he  tried  to  take  her  hand. 

"  Oh,  fie,  Captain  Robe,"  said  she,  as  de 
mure  a  damsel  as  you  could  wish.  "  That 
means  nothing, — or  everything." 

"  Or  everything,"  Kit  repeated.  And  just 
then  Monsieur  Ronald  appeared. 

"  Is  Monsieur  learning  French  ?"  he  asked, 
with  a  meaning  smile. 

Kit  bridled  a  bit.  It  was  his  one  chagrin 
that  he  didn't  know  French,  and  he  never 
had  time  to  learn  it.  You  lost  so  much  by 
not  knowing  the  tongue  in  New  Or 
leans. 

"Eh,  how's  the  army?"  said  Ronald 
affably.  Mademoiselle  was  laughing. 


CHALMETTE  63 

"  I  am  still  waiting  my  orders,"  said  Kit, 
rather  stiffly. 

"  They  say  they  intend  attacking  Mobile." 

"  Did  you  ever  hear  of  a  Lieutenant  Beau 
mont  on  one  of  their  ships,  the  '  Pensacola'  ?  " 
said  Mademoiselle. 

"  Why,"  said  Ronald,  for  he  was  not  long 
back  from  England,  "  he's  to  marry  Lady 
Kitty  Berford.  I  know  him  well." 

Now  it  was  a  mystery  to  Kit  why  Ronald 
had  been  in  England.  He  always  suspected 
the  worst  of  the  man.  But  Raoul  Deschamps 
told  him  later  that  Ronald's  mother  was  an 
Englishwoman. 

"  How  did  you  know  this  English  officer, 
Mademoiselle  Marie  ?"  he  asked. 

Mademoiselle  sat  very  still,  her  face  pale 
and  agitated.  And  Kit  wondered  why.  But 
Monsieur  Ronald  took  up  the  conversation. 

"  Everybody  comes  to  New  Orleans,  Mr. 
Robe, — sooner  or  later, — even  your  good 
self." 

"  Yes,  I  dare  say,"  Kit  said,  absently. 

"  Why,  we  had  here  in  '98, — the  princes 
themselves  running  from  the  guillotine, — 


64  CHALMETTE 

the  Dukes  d'Orleans,  de  Montpensier,  the 
Comte  de  Beaujolais.  The  way  we  knew 
this  Mr.  Beaumont  was  that  an  English 
frigate,  after  chasing  pirates,  put  in  here  a 
year  before  the  war.  He  was  very  nice, 
Mademoiselle  thought." 

"  I  never  liked  him,"  Mademoiselle  re 
torted,  a  little  flush  mounting  her  pale  cheeks. 

"  Speaking  of  pirates,"  Monsieur  Ronald 
went  on,  "  Mr.  Grymes  has  won  his  case." 

"  For  the  Lafittes,"  said  Mademoiselle, 
turning.  "  They  give  so  much  for  the  pub 
lic  balls." 

"  He  is  going  to  a  banquet  at  Barataria," 
Ronald  went  on. 

"  That  exonerates  them,"  said  Kit,  rising, 
for  he  found  three  a  crowd  that  moment. 

"You  are  not  going?"  Mademoiselle  ex 
postulated,  looking  up  to  him. 

But  he  was.  And  he  bowed  stiffly.  The 
rest  of  that  visit  he  rather  avoided  her.  If 
he  had  known,  those  were  the  very  best  tac 
tics  to  have  adopted.  Mademoiselle  had  a 
certain  common  feminine  weakness  of  caring 
most  for  those  men  who  avoided  her. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE   LETTER 

ONE  day  Mr.  Grymes  came  back  with  the 
most  wonderful  stories  of  the  hospitality  he 
had  received  at  the  hands  of  the  Lafittes  at 
Barataria 

"  Pirates  !"  quoth  he ;  "  splendid  gentle 
men,  " 

"  What  has  become  of  your  friend  Robe  ?" 
he  asked  of  Raoul  Deschamps.  "Doesn't 
that  fellow  play  too  much  ?" 

"  Oh,  pooh,"  said  Mr.  Deschamps ;  "  he's 
rich." 

I  must  state  here  that  gossip  has  it, — I 
don't  vouch  for  the  truth  of  any  gossip, — 
that  Mr  Grymes  had  received  his  twenty 
thousand  dollars  fee,  but  on  his  return  to 
ward  the  city  had  stopped  at  several  planta 
tions  where  a  quiet  little  rubber  couldn't  be 
refused,  and  when  he  reached  the  city  not  a 
penny  was  left  of  that  fee.  Well,  Robe  has 
5  65 


66  CHALMETTE 

seen  many  persons  turn  moralists  after  certain 
unfortunate  experiences.  His  friends,  Cafferty 
and  Turnbull,  might  shake  their  heads,  but 
then  it  was  a  tradition  that  all  Southerners 
were  naturally  "  devils  of  fellows." 

But,  now  as  he  looks  back  at  it  all,  Robe 
must  confess  that  he  was  taking  rather  a 
lively  pace.  The  drafts  from  New  Orleans  on* 
Mr.  Robe's  banker  in  Baltimore  were  frequent 
and  thick.  As  for  the  young  gentlemen  of 
New  Orleans,  they  seemed  to  find  in  him  one 
after  their  own  taste,  and,  indeed,  Mademoi 
selle  de  Renier  was  strongly  inclined  to  en 
courage  him,  for  he  began  to  see  that  a  certain 
disdain  smooths  the  way  to  a  woman's  fancy. 

So  there  came  a  gladsome  morning  when 
he  awoke  with  a  consciousness  of  jingling 
coin  in  his  pocket.  His  head,  too,  was  won 
drous  clear,  considering  the  fact  that  he  had 
been  out  rather  late.  And,  as  on  another 
morning,  he  went  out  to  the  De  Reniers',  and 
they  were  alone  for  some  moments. 

"Ah,"  said  Mademoiselle,  with  a  sigh, 
"  there  are  so  many  pretty  girls  in  New  Or 
leans." 


CHALMETTE  67 

"Do  you  remember  what  I  told  you 
once  ?"  he  asked. 

"Yes,"  said  she,  timidly,  and  he  leaned 
over  and  kissed  her,  and  as  he  did  he  had 
suddenly  a  vision  of  Sallie  Maurice.  He 
could  see  Sallie's  eyes  in  Mademoiselle's, 
could  hear  her  voice,  so  that  Mademoiselle 
suddenly  drew  back.  But  Robe  knew  what 
he  had  done,  and  he  said  again  the  words 
with  a  certain  cold  formality.  He  would 
act  it  out  to  the  end,  he  said  to  himself,  with 
self-pity.  Yet  what  was  his  acting  ?  Tears 
were  in  her  eyes,  and  then,  though  he  called 
after  her,  she  was  gone  from  the  room.  And 
Kit  was  like  a  man  who  has  recovered  from 
a  long  delirium.  He  sent  word  for  Mad 
emoiselle.  She  begged  to  be  excused.  Kit 
went  out  into  the  sunshine  of  the  street  and 
then  back  to  his  lodgings,  where  he  wrote  two 
notes, — one  couched  in  very  formal  terms  to 
Madame  de  Renier,  asking  for  her  daughter's 
hand  and  stating  what  his  prospects  were ; 
and  in  the  other  he  made  again  his  declara 
tion,  and,  calling  Simon  Wesley,  he  ordered 
him  to  get  a  bunch  of  roses  and  violets  and 


68  CHALMETTE 

to  present  them  to  Mademoiselle  with  her 
note.  Simon  grinned  and  went  out.  He, 
too,  was  having  rather  a  pleasant  time  in 
New  Orleans,  though  Northern  darkies  were 
not  much  esteemed  by  their  creole  fel 
lows. 

Kit  sat  very  still,  looking  out  of  the  win 
dow,  but  only  seeing  the  face  which  had* 
interrupted   his  love-making.     Suddenly  he 
knew  himself;  he  knew  it  was  the  Virginia 
girl,  not  Mademoiselle. 

Now  you  will  say  he  should  have  known 
from  the  first  that  he  was,  indeed,  a  very  fickle 
fellow.  Well,  while  he  is  a  hero  of  mine,  I 
can't  defend  him.  He  was  ever  filled  with 
all  the  human  weaknesses  and  ficklenesses. 

Now,  as  he  sat  there,  he  noticed  on  the 

table  a  letter  addressed  to  him.     Picking  it 

up,  he  stared   in   wonder.      It  was  Sallie's 

4hand  and  Sallie's  seal.     He  tore  it  open  and 

read : 

"  DEAR  KIT, — I  know  all  about  you.  Wasn't  I 
right  that  day  at  Westmore  ?  What  if  I  had  believed 
you  ?  But  I  didn't. 

"S.  M." 


CHALMETTE  69 

That  was  all.  If  he  had  been  in  a  calmer 
mood  he  might  have  been  a  little  vain  over 
Sallie's  haste  to  explain  that  she  didn't  care ; 
that  he  needn't  deceive  himself.  But  I  am 
not  sure  that  would  have  been  a  reason  for 
vanity.  It's  possible  for  a  woman  to  write 
such  a  note  without  caring  at  all  for  a  man, 
that's  certain. 

But  how  did  she  know?  New  Orleans 
was  so  far  away  from  Virginia.  He  had 
been  there  only  three  weeks.  Or  was  she 
referring  to  some  other  vagary  of  his  *?  He 
couldn't  remember  one  that  would  call  out 
her  letter.  Could  she  be  in  New  Orleans  ? 
He  remembered  Philip  Maurice's  letter  to 
Jean  Lafitte.  He  must  know,  and  he  called 
for  a  servant  of  the  house. 

"  How  did  this  letter  get  here  ?"  he  asked. 

"  A  half  hour  ago,  sir ;  from  the  con 
vent."  * 

Without  waiting  to  consider  the  situation 
further,  he  went  out  hastily.  What  did  that 
mean  *? — the  convent  of  the  Ursulines. 

I  can  see  him  now,  as  if  he  were  another, 
as  he  walked  through  those  streets  and  stopped 


70  CHALMETTE 

at  last  before  that  famous  building  where  for 
ninety  years  the  sisters  of  Saint  Ursula  did 
their  sweet,  good  work.  He  hesitated  for  a 
moment,  looking  at  the  stout  brick  walls. 
Was  she  indeed  there"?  And  what  had 
brought  her  to  New  Orleans'?  He  would 
ask  ;  he  would  know.  And  he  gently  raised 
the  knocker  above  the  cross.  As  the  porter 
looked  out  through  the  grated  opening  he 
asked  if  a  Miss  Maurice  might  be  lodged 
there,  and  he  showed  the  letter  and  explained 
his  mission.  At  last  there  came  word  that 
Sister  Madeleine  would  see  him,  and  pres 
ently  he  was  before  a  woman  who  must  have 
been  very  beautiful  in  her  time.  Now  her 
face  had  that  holy  air  which  the  frame  gives 
it,  a  reminiscence  of  sorrow  which  had  added 
to  the  delicate  refinement. 

"  Yes,  Monsieur,"  she  began  ;  then,  turning 
to  English,  "the  letter  was  sent  you  from 
here." 

"  And  is  she  here  ?" 

"  No,  sir." 

"  Has  she  been  ?" 

"  Yes." 


CHALMETTE  71 

"  Where  can  I  find  her?" 

"  Oh,  I  cannot  tell  you  that,  believe  me, 
sir." 

And  suddenly  she  said : 

"  You  have  a  good  face, — a  face  that  will 
be  strong  some  day." 

"  Thank  you,  mother,"  Kit  said,  bowing 
humbly ;  and  as  he  turned  away  he  carried 
with  him  a  picture  of  her  calm,  heavenly 
face.  He  seemed  to  be  called  back  to  his 
better  self  all  at  once. 

And  she  had  been  there  ?  He  remembered 
that  the  Maurices  were  Romanists ;  he  re 
membered  how  she  had  changed  color  when 
he  had  said  he  was  on  his  way  to  Louisiana. 
And  then  he  thought  again  of  the  letter  to 
Jean  Lafitte.  Could  that  explain  it  all  ?  She 
knew  of  his  attentions  to  Marie  de  Renier. 
Ah,  yes,  it  was  now  a  betrothal.  He  walked 
more  briskly  to  get  the  answer  Simon  might 
have  brought.  Simon  was  there ;  but  it  was 
a  verbal  message, — "  Mademoiselle  de  Renier 
wishes  to  see  Mr.  Robe  in  person." 

Mademoiselle  was  smiling  as  he  entered ; 
but  the  first  words  she  uttered  were, — 


72  CHALMETTE 

"  I  have  torn  up  that  note  of  yours, — and 
Madame's,  ma  mere's,  too.  She  didn't  see 
it." 

"  I  meant  it,"  he  began. 

"  Why,  you  didn't  at  all.  If  you  did  you 
must  be  prepared  to  die  of  a  broken  heart, — 
for " 

"Why?"  he  asked. 

"  Do  you  know  that  story  Louis  Ronald 
told, — of  a  Lieutenant  Beaumont1?"  Her 
voice  rose  to  a  certain  tragic  intensity.  "  I 
loved — I  love — that  man.  I  hate  her " 

And  Kit  remembered  that  Ronald  had  said 
this  English  lieutenant  was  betrothed. 

"  As  for  you,  dear  Mr.  Robe,  I  led  you  on. 
I  liked  you  ;  I  like  you  ;  but  love  ! — it  was 
between  us  a  play  ;  and  it  has  ended  in  a  jolly 
friendship." 

And  they  shook  hands  and  laughed,  in 
deed,  the  best  of  friends  ;  for  he  knew  she  was 
speaking  the  truth,  and  she  understood  him. 
She  had  angled  for  him  and  caught  him, — 
which  satisfied  her  coquetry ;  and  now  she 
was  pleased  to  let  him  go.  She  confided  in 
him  a  bit  more  about  Beaumont,  to  which 


CHALMETTE  73 

he  listened,  while  she  ended,  denying  her 
words  with  a  little  stamp  of  the  foot, — of 
course,  she  wasn't  in  earnest  about  that  either. 
Was  she  trying  to  gain  Robe  back  by  nam 
ing  a  rival  ? 

That  evening  Captain  Robe  received  an 
order  to  accompany,  by  Governor  Claiborne's 
request,  Captain  Cafferty,  of  the  State  militia, 
to  examine  into  the  pirates'  retreat  at  Bara- 
taria,  and  to  report  to  General  Jackson  at 
Mobile,  where  he  had  been  making  the  de 
fence  of  Fort  Bowyer.  The  general  knew 
the  quality  of  Captain  Robe's  observation  on 
a  former  occasion. 

Kit  remembers  a  proclamation  of  the 
general  that  was  about  the  city  the  next 
day : 

"  The  base,  perfidious  Britons  have  attempted  to  in 
vade  your  country.  They  had  the  temerity  to  attack 
Fort  Bowyer  with  their  incongruous  horde  of  Indians, 
negroes,  and  assassins  ;  they  seem  to  have  forgotten 
that  this  fort  was  defended  by  freemen." 

Reading  his  instruction,  and  listening  to 
its  interpretation  from  the  military  com- 


74  CHALMETTE 

mandant  of  New  Orleans,  Captain  Robe  felt 
very  glad  that  now  he  had  some  plain  duty. 
Nor  did  the  fact  that  he  had  met  Jean  La- 
fitte  through  the  introduction  of  the  Mau 
rices  lessen  his  zest. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  PIRATES  OF  BARATARIA 

NOT  a  soul  was  supposed  to  know  of  this 
expedition,  but  Robe  doubts  not  in  the  least 
that  the  astute  Lafitte  was  from  the  first 
aware  of  its  every  detail.  He  himself  saw 
Raoul  Deschamps,  of  course,  without  hinting 
of  it,  and  he  made  a  visit  on  Mademoiselle, 
who  was  very  light  and  gracious  and  did  not 
once  suspect  that  he  was  going  away.  Kit 
may  have  wondered  what  the  Virginia  young 
lady  would  have  said  to  these  continual  visits. 
But  really  he  couldn't  avoid  being  polite  to 
Mademoiselle  after  he  had  made  himself  such 
a  fool  about  her.  And  then  there  came  the 
further  details  of  the  expedition.  Captain 
Robe  made  several  suggestions,  which  were 
accepted  as  valuable.  They  must  see  Jean 
Lafitte  himself,  General  Jackson  had  said ; 
they  must  look  over  Barataria  as  carefully  as 
their  chance  would  permit.  Jean  Lafitte  was 

75 


76  CHALMETTE 

not  inclined  to  come  to  New  Orleans  at  that 
time ;  and  his  brother  Pierre  was  not  a  sub 
stitute  for  Jean,  who  controlled  the  fighting 
Baratarians.  Jean  was  to  be  dealt  with  di 
rectly.  Major  Cafferty  was  to  represent  the 
State,  and  Captain  Robe  General  Jackson 
himself.  They  took  with  them  six  men, — ; 
seven,  indeed,  including  Simon  Wesley,  who 
was  an  active  fellow. 

And  at  dawn  one  September  morning  they 
put  out  for  Barataria. 

As  their  sloop  went  down  the  river — in 
that  scene  where  nature  had  been  so  lavish 
in  colors,  in  delicious  beauty — the  languor 
of  the  day  fell  over  them ;  all  quite  aston 
ishing  to  the  Virginian,  who  had  not  yet 
become  too  familiar  with  that  charming 
scenery.  He  and  Cafferty  were  now  on  good 
terms,  and  Dennis  told  over  again  how  he 
had  come  to  New  Orleans  and  succeeded 
beyond  his  expectation.  Neither  of  the  two 
had  much  complaint  to  make  of  success,  and 
Robe  could  tell  a  pretty  story  of  what  he 
had  done  at  Lundy's  Lane, — by  the  purest 
chance,  he  must  add  in  strict  frankness. 


CHALMETTE  77 

They  stopped  for  lunch  at  a  plantation, 
whose  owner  was  said  not  to  be  in  the  Bara- 
tarian  interest.  While  this  gentleman,  a  Mr. 
Brownell — married  into  a  creole  family — 
talked,  Kit  went  outside  in  the  hot  sunshine. 
His  few  weeks  of  leisure  in  New  Orleans 
seemed  far  away,  and  only  one  thing  piqued, 
— Sallie  Maurice's  presence  in  New  Orleans, 
the  mystery  Sister  Madeleine  did  not  choose 
to  explain,  or,  perhaps,  could  not  in  duty  to 
herself. 

"  Ah,  Captain  Robe,  how  does  it  chance 
that  you  are  as  far  down  as  here  ?"  came  a 
sarcastic  voice,  and  he  saw  Louis  Ronald. 

"  How  do  ye  do  ?"  said  Kit,  coldly,  ignor 
ing  the  question.  "  What  a  charming  day  !" 

"  I  fancy  that  Major  CafFerty  has  some 
mission  of  importance,"  Ronald  went  on. 
"  You  are  pointed  towards  Barataria.  Pos 
sibly  there's  been  a  report  of  a  new  cargo  of 
blacks." 

"  Possibly,"  said  Robe.  "  You  are  a  friend 
of  Mr.  Brownell  ?" 

"  Mr.  Brownell  is  one  of  the  most  popular 
Americans  in  Louisiana,"  Ronald  said,  easily. 


78  CHALMETTE 

"  You  know  Americans  are  not  altogether  so. 
They  are  still  much  foreigners  to  us  with 
French  prejudices.  You  can't  uproot  in  a 
generation  a  feeling  born  in  the  blood.  And 
then  the  Spanish  annexation  feeling  is  very 
strong." 

"  The  British  count  on  that,  and  the  Bara*- 
tarians,  I  believe,"  said  Robe,  slowly.  "  It 
appears  to  have  been  a  good  move  to  try 
to  stir  up  the  race  feeling.  I  can't  believe 
they  will  be  barbarians  enough  to  free  the 
slaves " 

"  All  kinds  of  reports  are  rife,"  said  Ronald, 
easily.  "  But  I  think  General  Jackson  has 
his  hands  full." 

Robe  made  no  reply  to  this,  but  after 
wards,  when  they  were  started  again,  he  told 
Cafferty  the  talk  word  for  word.  (At  lun 
cheon  Mr.  Brownell  had  accounted  for  Ron 
ald's  presence  by  stating  that  he  had  the 
adjoining  plantation.) 

"  He  is  an  agent  of  the  Lafittes,"  Cafferty 
said ;  "  two-thirds  of  the  Louisianians  are, 
for  that  matter.  Then  there's  another  party, 
made  up  of  Northerners,  who  would  like  to 


CHALMETTE  79 

loot  Barataria ;  there  are  so  many  tales  of 
untold  treasures  hidden  there.  Was  ever  a 
place  where  so  many  adventurers  were  gath 
ered  !  But  as  for  Ronald, — eh,  he's  a  dan 
gerous  fellow.  You  may  believe  we're  ex 
pected  on  the  Bay  of  Barataria." 

"  Could  he  get  a  word  there  before  us  ?" 

"  Humph  !"  Cafferty  retorted, "  in  this  laby 
rinth  of  water-ways  nothing  could  be  easier. 
But  they  probably  knew  it  from  New  Or 
leans  the  moment  the  expedition  was  decided 
on.  Ours  a  useless  sort  of  enterprise,  too. 
Those  men  would  dare  anything.  But  last 
year,  you  know,  a  revenue  officer  and  two 
of  his  men  were  killed  and  the  rest  held 
prisoners.  To  be  sure,  our  visit  is  amicable 
enough." 

As  they  went  on  Dennis  told  many  stories 
of  Captain's  Dominique  You  and  Robert  de 
Bertrand,  of  whom  Robe  was  to  know  much. 

They  had  reached  a  point  in  their  course 
where  the  glimmer  of  the  bay  was  sparkling 
blue  through  the  opening  of  a  lagoon,  when 
a  voice  sang  out,  "  Surrender  !"  and  instantly 
a  dozen  boats  pushed  out  from  the  banks 


8o  CHALMETTE 

filled  with  wild,  picturesque  fellows  bearing 
levelled  muskets  and  bare  cutlasses. 

"  Not  a  movement,"  Dennis  sang  out  to 
his  men  in  French  and  English.  "  There 
are  two  score  of  them." 

The  captain  of  the  sloop  obeyed  by  bring 
ing  it  to. 

"  We  have  a  mission  for  Mr.  Lafitte," 
Cafferty  shouted. 

The  others  did  not  answer,  but  came  up 
laughing  and  shouting  threats  in  three  tongues 
and  piling  over  the  side. 

"  I  tell  you  we  are  not  here  for  the 
revenues,"  Cafferty  cried  in  French. 

"  My  dear  captain,"  said  the  leader,  a  little, 
swarthy  fellow,  "  it  makes  no  difference. 
We  must  take  possession." 

"You'll  suffer  for  this,"  Cafferty  said. 
"  Your  nest  will  be  cleared  out." 

"  Submit,  my  dear  Monsieur,"  the  leader 
went  on  with  a  certain  mockery  of  urbanity. 
"  What  else  can  you  do  ?  And  then  let 
them  come  down  on  us.  They  have  been 
talking  of  it  so  long." 

Robe  was  fidgeting,  for  he  was  thinking 


CHALMETTE  81 

of  drawing  his  pistols  and  making  a  fight  for 
it ;  but  then  his  good  sense  returned.  They 
could  but  submit  meekly. 

"  That's  all,  Cafferty,"  he  said ;  "  our  mis 
sion  will  protect  us." 

And  he  looked  out  at  the  fierce  crew  that 
had  captured  them,  jabbering,  as  I  say,  in 
three  tongues,  and  I  know  not  how  many 
dialects,  looking,  for  all  the  world  like  figures 
in  some  romantic  play,  though,  to  be  sure,  in 
plays  actors  of  rough  parts  are  too  well  clad. 
And  behind  all  was  the  luxuriant  foliage,  the 
gleaming  sun,  the  shining  waters. 

"  Your  weapons,  Messieurs,"  said  the 
leader,  again,  bowing  politely ;  "  now  we 
must  bind  you." 

"Does  Mr.  Lafitte  or  Captain  Dominique 
You  or  Captain  de  Bertrand  know  of  this  ?" 
Cafferty  asked. 

"  Who  knows  ?"  laughed  the  leader.  "  It 
may  be  the  order  of  the  Republic  of  Cartha- 
gena.  As  for  the  captains,  they  may  be 
sailing  the  seas  over.  Eh,  Cafferty,"  for  he 
seemed  to  know  Kit's  friend. 

"  Eh,  Pierre  La  Roux,  you  keep  on  your 

6 


82  CHALMETTE 

same  high-handed  course.  But  there'll  be 
an  end  to  it,  my  friend,  an  end  to  it," 
Cafferty  cried,  his  gray  eyes  flashing,  his  red 
hair  shaking  like  a  lion's  shaggy  mane,  for 
his  cap  had  fallen.  The  captain  of  the  sloop 
and  the  escort  seemed  ready  to  resist  against 
the  numbers  of  the  assailants.  But  Robe 
put  his  hand  on  his  friend's  shoulder. 

"Don't  be  a  fool,  Dennis.  You  know 
I'm  no  coward,  but  a  fool  is  as  bad  as  one." 

"  You're  right,  man,"  said  Dennis,  sud 
denly  calm.  "  Give  up  your  arms,  fellows. 
We'll  have  to  depend  on  Mr.  Lafitte's 
mercy." 

"  Mr.  Lafitte  doesn't  know  of  this,"  La 
Roux  said  with  his  smile ;  he  seemed  to  be 
ever  smiling. 

"  I  think  you  lie,"  Dennis  retorted. 

"Well,  well,  what's  a  lie,  Cafferty?"  La 
Roux  said,  shrugging  his  shoulders.  "  I 
have  said  it.  You  may  believe  me  or  no,  as 
it  pleases  you." 

He  turned,  giving  an  order  in  French  and 
repeating  it  in  Spanish,  for  Captain  Robe 
had  begun  to  distinguish  between  the  two 


CHALMETTE  83 

tongues,  and,  indeed,  to  gather  a  smattering  of 
the  former.  As  the  order  passed,  La  Roux 
turned  to  the  prisoners : 

"  You  must  be  blindfolded,  my  friends, 
and  your  hands  tied  behind  you." 

"  Well,  my  friend,"  Captain  Robe  said  at 
this,  "  we'll  submit ;  I'll  speak  for  Major  Caf- 
ferty.  But  let  your  leader  know  that  I  come 
from  General  Jackson,  and  that  he  will  do 
well  to  hear  me." 

"  Humph,"  said  La  Roux,  viciously,  and 
then  more  quietly  and  with  a  return  of 
that  mocking  politeness,  "  I'm  the  leader 
here." 

"  As  you  spoke  of  your  lie,  *  I  have  said 
it,'  "  Captain  Robe  said.  "  The  privateers  of 
Carthagena,  if  that's  what  you  call  yourselves, 
must  respect  the  condition  of  envoys." 

"Well-a-day,  sir,"  said  La  Roux,  "we'll 
consider  that  afterwards." 

Cafferty  stood  mute,  lest  he  again  should 
break  into  anger. 

The  men's  hands  were  bound  behind  them 
and  then  they  were  blindfolded.  Simon  Wes 
ley  looked  pleadingly  at  his  master,  his  teeth 


84  CHALMETTE 

chattering.  He  expected  nothing  less  than 
to  be  shot. 

"  Trust  to  me,  Simon,"  said  his  master 
with  a  nonchalance  he  himself  didn't  feel. 
Cafferty  edged  to  him. 

"  My  belief  is,"  he  said  in  a  low  voice, 
"  that  one  of  their  vessels  is  unloading  a 
cargo, — maybe  slaves, — and  they  don't  want 
us  to  see  it." 

"  Silence,  gentlemen,"  came  La  Roux's 
voice.  "  Now  it's  your  turn." 

Captain  Robe's  hands  were  bound  tightly 
behind  him  and  the  bandage  was  passed  over 
his  eyes.  He  knew  he  was  being  lifted  over 
the  side  into  one  of  the  waiting  boats,  per 
haps  into  the  river.  But  his  feet  struck  the 
boat  bottom,  and  directly  the  oar  dip  began, 
while  a  low  Spanish  song  arose  amid  laugh 
ter,  for  the  men  were  well  pleased  with  their 
capture.  Perhaps  it  was  the  rhyme  of  the 
jolly  rover,  of  the  wild  life  of  the  high  seas. 
It  rose  and  fell,  now  in  melodious  notes, 
again  in  a  strange,  incoherent  jingle.  And 
then  they  were  still,  save  for  now  and  then  a 
muttered  word  and  the  oar  dip  or  a  bird  or 


CHALMETTE  85 

brute  cry  from  the  thickets.  So  a  half  hour 
must  have  passed  before  the  boat  pushed 
softly  against  a  muddy  beach. 

A  hand  was  thrust  under  Kit's  arms,  and 
he  arose  and  stepped,  with  that  guiding  hand, 
over  the  side  on  a  plank,  and  then,  without 
a  word,  he  was  led  some  distance,  and  finally 
up  a  step  to  a  room,  and,  it  seemed,  in  a 
long  passage. 

"  Sit  down,"  said  a  voice  in  English. 

As  he  obeyed,  the  bandage  was  removed 
and  he  found  La  Roux's  jeering  eyes  on  him, 
while  another  untied  his  hands.  The  room 
was  large,  with  small,  heavily-barred  windows 
near  the  ceiling ;  furnished  with  a  bundle  of 
clean  grass  as  a  bed  ;  the  stool,  where  he  was 
sitting;  a  single  low  door  of  heavy  iron, 
slightly  ajar,  showed  a  dark  corridor. 

The  fellow  who  had  untied  Robe's  arms 
stood  as  if  waiting  an  order.  A  pistol  was 
in  the  sash  at  his  waist,  a  rough  cutlass  by 
his  side.  His  calves  and  feet  were  brown 
and  bare.  He  seemed  ready  for  La  Roux's 
order  to  end  Robe  then  and  there.  La  Roux 
himself  was  dressed  in  much  the  same  way, 


86  CHALMETTE 

save  shoes  with  silver  buckles.  He  regarded 
the  captive  with  a  slight  sneer.  Robe  noted 
what  a  handsome  young  fellow  he  was, 
smooth-shaven,  with  a  certain  air  of  breeding, 
if,  as  well,  of  devil-may-care. 

"  Ah,  that  remains  with  you,"  said  Robe 
with  an  affected  carelessness,  remembering 
that  this  was  his  best  manner  under  the  cir- 
stances.  "You  might  say  to  Mr.  Lafitte 
that  I  await  his  pleasure." 

"  Mr.  Lafitte  will  doubtless  hear  of  this," 
said  La  Roux  with  a  smile. 

"  If  he  didn't  order  it,"  Robe  began. 

"  If  he  didn't  order  it,"  the  little  Baratarian 
said,  quietly.  "  I  have  tried  to  make  you 
and  Major  Cafferty  as  comfortable  as  possible 
by  giving  you  separate  rooms.  Your  men 
are  in  the  big  room.  Our  calaboose  is  not 
so  commodious  as  I  should  wish." 

"  Well,  I  must  wait  your  or  your  master's 
pleasure,"  Robe  said,  feeling  to  know  if  the 
documents  he  bore  had  not  been  disturbed. 

"  I  will  see  that  you  have  some  dinner." 

"  Not  now,"  said  Robe,  rising.  "  We  ate 
at  Mr.  BrownelPs,  as  you  doubtless  know." 


CHALMETTE  87 

He  was  thinking  of  his  meeting  with  Louis 
Ronald. 

"  Well,  au  revoir,  my  dear  captain,"  said 
La  Roux,  turning  and  motioning  the  man 
out. 

Suddenly  he  faced. 

"  At  least  you  are  a  brave  man,  Captain 
Robe,  and,  if  you'll  believe  me,  you  have  a 
friend  in  Pierre  La  Roux." 

La  Roux  extended  his  hand.  The  sarcastic 
smile  was  gone.  "  No  harm  will  come  to 
you  and  yours,  believe  me." 

What  could  have  been  stranger  than  to 
find  all  this  graceful  consideration  in  an  officer 
of  the  pirates  ?  The  captive  took  the  thin, 
nervous  hand, — moulded  like  a  gentleman's, 
— and  their  manners  were  quite  as  if  this 
were  a  social  occasion.  La  Roux  turned 
with  a  slight  bow  and  followed  his  man. 
The  bolts  slipped  to  their  places,  and  Robe 
was  left  to  consider  the  situation.  Through 
the  high-barred  windows  came  the  mutter  of 
the  Louisianian  September  day. 

"It  will  be  only  a  detention,"  Robe 
thought.  "They  will  take  me  to  Lafitte 


88  CHALMETTE 

finally.  It  is  probably,  as  Cafferty  surmised, 
.because  they  are  unloading  a  cargo." 

But  at  that  moment  there  was  a  low,  con 
fused  roar,  as  of  many  voices,  ever  nearer, 
and  Robe  could  distinguish  French  and 
Spanish  mingled  with  half-English  jargon. 
What  did  it  mean?  Suddenly  two  shots 
rang  out  in  rapid  succession.  The  passage 
seemed  filled  with  shuffling,  pushing  men, 
incoherent  cries. 

Robe  braced  himself  against  the  wall  and 
bared  his  arms,  determined  at  least  to  fight. 

The  bolts  rasped  in  their  sockets.  The 
door  was  thrown  wide  on  the  swearing,  jostling 
crowd,  on  cutlasses  thrust  forward,  on  one 
tall,  sinewy,  bare-legged  individual  who 
shouted  out  something  in  a  tongue  Robe 
didn't  understand.  He  must  have  made  a 
strange  picture  as  he  stood  there  against  the 
brick  wall,  ready  to  defend  himself.  The 
leader  stared  at  him  for  a  moment  and  then 
called  back  something  to  the  men,  whom 
he  had  been  holding.  A  half  dozen,  blear- 
and  red-eyed,  rough  counterparts  of  the 
leader,  rushed  in  at  the  word  and  held  the 


CHALMETTE  89 

cutlass  points  at  the  prisoner's  breast.  Seeing 
that  bare  arms  had  small  favor  with  steel, 
he  folded  them  and  faced  his  assailants  de 
fiantly,  while  from  the  corridor  the  cries  con 
tinued.  The  leader  motioned  the  cutlasses 
down,  with  a  remark  that  excited  laughter. 
Then,  advancing  to  Robe,  he  put  his  hand 
on  his  shoulder  roughly.  Raising  his  fist, 
Robe  brought  the  man  down.  The  cutlasses 
were  extended  again,  but  the  leader  suddenly 
was  on  his  feet,  and,  with  a  leering  face, 
made  a  motion  about  his  neck,  when,  with 
shouts  of  laughter,  the  cutlasses  were  low 
ered. 

"  That  means  I  am  to  be  hung,"  said  Robe, 
calmly.  "  Well,  be  good  enough  to  let  me 
walk  out  to  that  end." 

"  You're  a  cool  un,"  said  the  leader,  with 
a  certain  admiration.  For  a  certain  defer 
ence  instead  of  resentment  had  followed 
Robe's  blow. 

"  At  least  you  talk  English,"  said  the  pris 
oner. 

"  I'm  an  Italian,  but  I've  served  on  English 
ships." 


90  CHALMETTE 

"An  American  or  English  captain  will 
make  you  walk  the  plank  yet." 

"  Maybe,"  he  assented,  but  showing  no 
greater  resentment  than  such  an  assault 
brought  out  in  its  leader. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  WARD  OF  LAFITTE  AND   CAPTAIN 
DOMINIQUE  YOU 

THEY  came,  pushing  and  jostling,  laughing 
and  swearing,  from  the  dark  passages  into  the 
sunny  glare  of  a  glade  edged  by  cypresses. 

In  the  gesticulating  throng  of  drunken 
men,  black,  yellow,  white,  Robe  failed  to  see 
a  single  face  he  remembered  as  being  of  his 
original  captors. 

The  prisoners  were  arranged  in  the  middle 
of  the  circle  ;  the  crew  of  the  sloop,  his  and 
Cafferty's  escort  of  six  men,  Simon  Wesley's 
dark,  chattering  face.  Cafferty  himself  seemed 
as  calm  as  Robe. 

But  the  men  were  looking  at  the  half- 
dozen  halters  suspended  from  the  trees.  They 
understood  that  their  time  had  come ;  that 
there  was  but  a  step  to  that  eternity  which 
awes,  yet  which  never  should  make  a  brave 
man  flinch ;  there  are  so  many  better  and 

9' 


92  CHALMETTE 

braver  than  we  on  that  other  side.  The  fear 
of  death  to  Kit  is  the  fear  of  reaching  that 
goal  by  lingering  illness.  Yet  it  was  a  fear 
some  thing  to  die,  as  they  now  seemed  likely 
to,  in  this  far-away  piratical  nest.  They  might 
be  avenged,  but  what  would  that  be  to 
them  ? — small  satisfaction  when  you  may  be 
dead.  Life  and  its  sweetness  suddenly  ap 
pealed  to  Robe  as  never  before.  He  thought 
of  all  the  pleasures  it  had  given  him  ;  yes,  he 

had  known  a  pleasant  life;  and  now 

But  he  must  not  let  these  cattle  see  that  he 
trembled. 

Some  of  the  motley  crew  were  testing  the 
ropes,  looking  about  for  the  jeering  approval 
of  their  comrades.  The  leader,  the  man 
whom  Robe  had  felled,  strode  into  the 
middle  of  the  circle,  bowing  mockingly  to 
the  prisoners,  and  addressing  his  comrades 
with  a  speech  that  excited  shouts  and  more 
laughter.  At  the  end  two  men  advanced 
towards  Cafferty,  to  whom  the  leader  pointed. 

"  'Twill  be  your  turn  next,  Leonardo," 
Dennis  said  defiantly  to  the  leader,  who 
turned  and  translated  this,  with  many  com- 


CHALMETTE  93 

ments,  to  his  men.  As  he  was  speaking, — 
while  the  two  men  with  Dennis  were  pausing 
to  listen, — a  woman,  pale,  yellow-haired,  fair, 
suddenly  burst  through  the  circle,  which 
opened  for  her  ;  the  voice  paused  ;  the  throng 
fell  suddenly  silent  as  if  awed  ;  the  two  men 
by  CarTerty  slunk  away  from  their  prisoner. 

"  De  Bertrand  !"  a  voice  said,  shrilly. 

"  De  Bertrand !"  the  low  shout  was  re 
peated.  Leonardo  himself  bent  his  head. 
The  name  De  Bertrand  was  talismanic.  And 
the  girl  entered  there,  stood  in  the  circle 
pale,  trembling,  her  blue  eyes  flashing ;  and 
her  voice  was  in  French  : 

"  Back  to  your  ships  !"  she  cried.  "  Back 
to  your  ships,  wretches !  as  you  would  save 
your  lives." 

And  Robe  stood  there  in  sheer  amazement; 
for  the  girl,  in  a  simple  gown,  such  as  he  had 
seen  her  wear  many  times  in  Virginia,  was 
she  whom  he  had  known  as  his  neighbor,  his 
comrade.  He  had  a  memory  of  her  at  a 
dance  at  Georgetown ;  he  heard  the  full, 
womanly  voice,  light  with  laughter.  Was 
this  indeed  she? — this  slight,  rigid,  com- 


94  CHALMETTE 

manding  figure  before  whom  these  men 
shrank  ?  And  how  came  she  here  ?  And 
why  should  they  shrink  in  fear  before  her, 
with  that  word,  De  Bertrand,  explaining  all 
to  them,  so  little  to  him  ? 

At  the  moment  a  short,  sturdy,  swarthy 
man  ran  into  the  circle.  Without  a  word  he 
drew  a  pistol  from  his  belt,  and  with  its  butt 
raised  advanced  to  Leonardo,  who  faced  him 
silently.  Neither  said  a  word.  But  the 
pistol-butt  was  raised,  and  Leonardo  fell  over 
like  a  wooden  thing.  The  new-comer  waved 
his  arm,  still  without  a  word,  and  the  crowd 
slunk  away  as  if  by  magic.  Only  two  turned 
back  and  lifted  their  leader,  who  lay  stunned, 
perhaps  dead.  In  the  confusion  the  girl  in 
some  way  disappeared.  Robe  saw  her  head 
in  the  crowd  for  a  moment,  and  then  it 
was  hidden.  His  heart  beat  violently,  in  his 
wonder,  his  surprise,  his  impulse  to  rush  after 
her. 

The  man  who  had  borne  out  her  demand 
for  the  mob's  dispersal  now  called  back  to 
some  companions,  who  appeared  at  a  dog 
trot,  headed  by  La  Roux. 


CHALMETTE  95 

"  I  am  sorry,  Mr.  Robe,"  that  worthy 
said,  rushing  up  to  Robe.  "  They  over 
powered  the  two  men  in  charge  of  our  cal 
aboose." 

But  he  of  the  effective  pistol-butt  inter 
rupted  La  Roux. 

"  Major  Cafferty  knows  me,  Mr.  Robe," 
he  said.  "  I  am  Dominique  You,  at  your 
very  good  service.  I  will  take  you  at  once  to 
Mr.  Lafitte,  who  will  be  pained  to  hear  of 
these  occurrences.  They  shouldn't  have 
been  stopped  at  first,"  he  said  to  La  Roux. 

"  I'm  to  blame,  Captain  You,"  La  Roux 
said. 

"  Belouche  was  unloading  a  cargo,"  Dom 
inique  You  himself  said  after  this  mild  reproof 
to  La  Roux. 

"  Belouche's  lieutenant,  Leonardo,  doubt 
less  thought  that  you  were  down  here  for  the 
customs.  He's  a  lawless  fellow  and  a  bit 
crazed  by  drink.  He  thought  he  would 
give  those  who  interfere  with  our  trade  a 
lesson." 

"  And  De  Bertrand  ?"  asked  Robe.  "  Who 
is  he,  Captain  You  ?" 


96  CHALMETTE 

"  Twenty  years  ago  you  wouldn't  have 
asked  that  question,  Monsieur.  He  has  done 
more  harm  to  Spanish  commerce  than  any 
privateer  captain  of  the  Gulf." 

"And  Miss  Maurice?  How  came  she 
here  ?" 

"  She, — ah,  you  knew  her  in  Virginia. 
She's  the  ward  of  Jean  Lafitte." 

"  The  ward  of  Jean  Lafitte  !"  Robe  cried  ; 
"  the  ward  of  her  uncle,  Philip  Maurice !" 

"  Mr.  Lafitte  will  explain.  I  can  say  no 
more,  Mr.  Robe,"  Dominique  You  went  on. 
"  Now,  Major  CafFerty,  your  men  are  quite 
free.  They'll  be  taken  to  your  sloop  and  La 
Roux  will  see  they  are  entertained." 

Robe  was  rather  fearful  that  Cafferty  would 
display  temper,  as,  indeed,  he  had  good  reason. 
But  the  revenue  officer,  who  was  at  the  same 
time  a  major  of  the  Louisiana  militia,  met 
Dominique  You's  adroit  addresses  with  a 
calm  politeness. 

As  Kit  looks  back  on  his  first  meeting 
with  this  remarkable  man,  Dominique  You, 
he  remembers  that  captain's  subsequent 
career,  so  strange  in  contrast  with  its  begin- 


CHALMETTE  97 

ning.  He  remembers  the  monument  to  him 
in  New  Orleans,  and  that  the  city  never 
gave  another  of  its  citizens  so  great  a 
funeral  display.  And  so  he  feels  called  on 
to  record  his  own  surprise  at  this  remark 
able  mixture  of  a  man  of  action  and  of 
address.  Dominique  You  never  had  the 
subtlety  of  either  of  the  Lafittes.  But  the 
three  were  by  far  the  most  extraordinary  men 
among  Kit's  acquaintances,  barring,  perhaps, 
General  Jackson. 

They  came  out  of  the  woodland  into  the 
most  charming  rural  scene ;  handsome  and 
well-kept  villas,  as  fine  as  any  about  New 
Orleans  ;  people  coming  and  going  about 
quiet  vocations ;  the  bay,  with  its  many 
smaller  sails  and  three  large  vessels  at  anchor ; 
the  landing  places  active ;  great  warehouses 
lining  the  shore.  As  they  passed  on,  men 
exchanged  salutations  with  Captain  You. 
Their  path  led  back  of  this  scene  of  activity, 
among  orange  groves,  past  well-kept  farms, 
and  about  all  was  the  marvel  of  light  and 
color, — of  the  sea  and  land  and  the  cloud- 
flecked  sky.  Cafferty  pointed  out  a  line  of 
7 


98  CHALMETTE 

barges  which  he  said  plied  constantly  be 
tween  the  La  Fourche  and  the  Mississippi, 
and  Robe  began  to  understand  how  great 
was  the  trade  of  Barataria;  how  here  was 
centred  much  of  the  commerce  of  the  Mis 
sissippi  Valley. 

They  came  at  last  to  a  house,  where  Dom 
inique  You  exchanged  some  words  with  a 
black  servant,  and  directly  were  ushered 
through  a  hall,  as  fine  in  its  appointments  as 
any  Robe  had  seen,  into  a  small  room  where 
a  man  sat  dictating  to  a  secretary. 

As  they  entered  he  arose.  Robe  saw  again 
Jean  Lafitte. 

"  This  is  a  pleasure,  Captain  Robe,"  said 
he.  "  How  is  our  friend,  Mr.  Deschamps, — 
and  Major  Cafferty,  too  ?" 

"  I  have  been  apologizing  for  some  indig 
nities  these  gentlemen  have  suffered,"  Dom 
inique  You  said. 

"  Ah,  that  too  zealous  La  Roux  !"  Lafitte 
said. 

"  No,  worse ;  Belouche's  crew  came  near 
hanging  'em,"  Captain  You  continued. 

"  Oh,  this  is  atrocious,"  Mr.  Lafitte  said, 


CHALMETTE  99 

with  a  fine  show  of  surprise.  "  How  may 
we  apologize  enough  ?  You  know  we  are 
made  up  of  so  many  wild  characters, — it's 
sometimes  unavoidable." 

Mr.  Robe  assured  him  that  he  quite  under 
stood,  and  he  went  on  to  say  that  he  bore 
some  letters  from  General  Jackson  himself, 
while  Major  Cafferty  had  like  documents 
from  Governor  Claiborne. 

"  I  will  read  them  now  if  you  will  excuse 
me,"  Lafitte  said. 

He  handed  the  papers  over  to  his  secre 
tary,  who  read  the  documents  in  a  low  tone. 
Dominique  You,  as  if  these  had  no  particular 
interest  to  him,  rose  with  a  nod  and  went 
out. 

At  last  Lafitte  said, — 

"  As  usual,  we  are  summoned  to  disperse 
by  all  authorities.  Well,  I  don't  think, — 
we  will." 

His  voice  came  out  low,  positive,  while  he 
smiled  urbanely  on  his  two  visitors.  He 
paused  for  a  moment. 

"  It  would  not  be  for  the  interest  of 
Louisiana  to  have  us  scattered.  Your  Gen- 


ioo  CHALMETTE 

eral  Jackson  will  need  us  later.  I  can  put 
five  hundred  armed  men  in  the  field,  gen 
tlemen, — men  who  understand  guns,  who 
are  not  afraid  of  death, — desperate,  tried 
men." 

For  another  moment  he  paused,  and  then 
began  again  with  a  gentle,  persuasive  voice  i 

"  Say  what  you  will,  to  what  does  New 
Orleans  owe  prosperity  so  much  as  to  the 
trade  of  Barataria  ?  Call  us  names,  but  do 
not  forget  that  we,  the  leaders,  are  patriots. 
Tell  that  to  your  General  Jackson.  Yet 
wait,  there  may  be  something  more  to  say. 
I  will  consult  with  the  captains.  In  the 
mean  time  I  will  try  to  make  up  to  you  for 
your  detention, — in  some  poor  way." 

And  again  he  paused,  looking  the  two 
visitors  over  shrewdly,  as  if  noting  the  effect 
of  his  words. 

"  The  courts  have  decided  in  our  favor. 
Yet  we  must  be  persecuted.  Ah,  Major 
CafFerty,  I  suspect  that  there  are  many  in 
New  Orleans  who  would  like  to  be  part  of 
an  expedition  against  Barataria.  They  think 
we  have  some  riches  here." 


CHALMETTE  101 

"  That  is  undoubtedly  true,"  Dennis  an 
swered. 

As  he  spoke  a  report  rang  out,  such  as  may 
be  from  a  ship's  gun. 

Lafitte  turned  to  his  secretary,  who  looked 
a  young  Spanish  student.  As  he  went  out 
hurriedly,  the  master  turned. 

"  I  must  follow  him.  That  gun  signifies 
something." 

"  Yes,"  said  Cafferty,  when  Lafitte  had 
gone.  "  There's  a  ship  outside, — a  war 
ship." 

"  It  might  be  one  of  those  privateers." 

"  Yes,  we  can't  tell.  But  I  believe  it  was 
unexpected." 

"  What  did  Dominique  You  mean  by  de 
scribing  Miss  Maurice  as  the  ward  of  Lafitte  ? 
How  does  she  happen  to  be  here  ?  Why  did 
those  fellows  stop  when  she  spoke  ?"  Robe 
asked. 

Again  the  gun  rang  out. 

"  The  second  summons,"  Caflferty  said, 
eagerly.  "  As  for  the  girl, — you  know  her  ?" 

"  She  is  from  the  estate  adjoining  West- 
more." 


102  CHALMETTE 

"  It's  strange,"  Dennis  said.  "  Let  me 
think.  They  said  'De  Bertrand.'  She  is 
identified  with  the  old  pirate  in  some 
way." 

"  With  De  Bertrand  ?"  Robe  asked.  "  How 
can  she  be  ?" 

The  door  was  pushed  open.  A  black  stood 
outside. 

"  I  come  for  the  gentleman  who  represents 
General  Jackson,"  he  said. 

"  I  am  he,"  Robe  said. 

"  Come  with  me,  sir,"  the  man  said. 

"  And  I  am  to  leave  you,  Dennis." 

"  I  don't  see  that  we  can  be  choosers, — 
at  present,"  Dennis  said.  And  Robe  followed 
the  man. 

Outside  he  noticed  a  gayly-fitted  barge 
putting  out  from  one  of  the  wharves,  and  he 
thought  there  seemed  some  excitement  in  a 
crowd  gathered  there  since  his  companion 
and  he  had  entered  the  house.  A  figure  in 
the  barge  looked  Lafitte's. 

"  Is  that  Mr.  Lafitte's  barge  ?" 

"  Oui,  M'sieur,"  said  the  negro. 

He  led  to  a  house  possibly  one-eighth  of 


CHALMETTE  103 

a  mile  farther.  There  the  door  swung  back 
as  if  they  were  expected.  The  guide  knocked 
gently  at  a  door,  which  opened,  and  Robe 
was  aware  of  a  great  room, — dim,  for  the 
curtains  were  closely  drawn ;  of  a  bed,  where 
a  strange,  gaunt  figure  was  propped  with 
pillows. 


CHAPTER   VII 

THE  DEATH-BED  OF  DE  BERTRAND 

THE  man  was  very  old;  his  face  thin, 
bony,  yet  commanding;  the  eyes  sunken, 
yet  searching  and  bright, — with  the  bright 
ness  approaching  death  sometimes  gives  old 
person's  eyes.  Now  he  motioned  to  a  chair, 
while  his  voice  came  out  thin,  rasping : 

"  Ye  are  from  the  general  and  the  gov 
ernor?" 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Robe,  involuntarily  giving 
age  a  tribute. 

"  Tell  them,  then,  that  ye  saw  Felix  de 
Bertrand  —  they  called  me,  the  English, 
the  Pirate — on  his  dying  bed  Tell  them 
they  must  not  disregard  what  I  say.  And 
I  say,  for  the  good  of  Louisiana,  take  Jean 
Lafitte  at  his  word." 

"  I  will  so  report,"  Robe  said,  bowing  his 
head,  for  age  and  death  sat  together  with  him 

in  that  room. 
104 


CHALMETTE  105 

"  And  tell  them  that  I  repent  nothing. 
My  life  has  been  war, — war  for  myself. 
But  when  I  held  the  Gulf,  at  least,  my 
authority  was  respected.  Now  Jean  Lafitte, 
a  greater  man,  has  taken  my  place.  And  I 
die,  not  fearing,  but  ready  before  God  to  say, 
4 1  have  done  what  I  have  done ' " 

And  Robe  bowed  his  head,  realizing  how 
bloody  that  life  had  been,  how  tainted  with 
crime,  and  yet  respecting  the  bravery  ac 
knowledging  it  all.  The  voice  had  become 
strong  and  clear,  and  now  added : 

"  That  is  all,  my  friend." 

"  I  will  deliver  it  word  for  word,  as  you 
have  said  it,"  Robe  said. 

"  Eh,"  said  the  voice  querulously, '"  word 
for  word.  I  like  youi  face,  my  friend. 
Give  me  your  hand,  if  you'll  take  De  Bert- 
rand's  hand." 

As  Robe  took  the  cold,  bony  hand  he  felt 
nearer  to  death  than  he  himself  ever  had 
been.  And  then  he  heard  from  the  shadow 
of  the  bed  a  low  sobbing,  and  he  distinguished 
a  woman's  kneeling  figure.  "Was  it  she?" 
he  asked. 


io6  CHALMETTE 

"  Be  quiet,  lass,"  said  the  old  man,  "  you're 
the  last, — you  and  Madeleine." 

"  Yes,  grandfather." 

And  the  voice  was  Sallie  Maurice's,  the 
tone  that  had  been  his  playmate's. 

"  Show  him  out,  lass,"  said  De  Bertrand. 
"  Let  him  know  that  we  in  Barataria  are  not 
without  hospitality," 

And  the  eyes  closed,  and  Robe  went  to  the 
door,  past  the  three  slaves,  the  man  and  two 
women,  who  stood  with  bowed  heads. 

As  he  hesitated  in  the  hall,  "  He  told  me 
to  follow  you,"  she  said 

"  And  would  you  not  of  your  own  will." 

"  No,  Christopher  Robe." 

"  But  there  has  been  that  between  us, — 
though  not  all  spoken, — which  should  have 
made  you,  Sallie  Maurice." 

"  That  is  so  ;  Kit.  we  were  playfellows,  and 
you  had  a  right." 

"  What  right  ?  Oh,  the  note  you  sent  me. 
I  understand  now ;  I  was  foolish.  But  that 
is  over,  please.  It  was  but  a  fancy." 

"Don't  touch  me.  The  man  I  care  for 
shall  have  no  fancies.  But" — her  voice 


CHALMETTE  107 

grew  calm — "  he  is  my  mother's  father. 
Sister  Madeleine  of  the  Ursulines  was  my 
mother's  sister.  They  sent  for  me  when  they 
knew  he  couldn't  be  better.  My  uncle  was 
opposed  to  it,  but  I  would  come." 

"  I  like  you  for  it." 

"  Could  I  have  done  else  ?  My  father  met 
my  mother,  his  daughter,  in  Martinique. 
And  when  she  died  my  father  brought  me 
to  Virginia,  where  he  died  of  the  fever, — that 
is  the  story,  Kit." 

And  Kit  remembered  what  his  father  had 
said  of  the  bad  blood  of  the  Maurices.  Why 
had  he  never  known  of  that  story  ?  He  was 
to  learn  later  that  no  one  knew  of  Reginald 
Maurice's  wife  as  De  Bertrand's  daughter. 

"  You  saved  my  life.  You  must  have 
cared,  the  way  you  rushed  out  among  those 
rough  men,"  he  said. 

"  It  was  Captain  You.  And  then  I  didn't 
know  you  were  there.  I  simply  heard  that 
Belouche  and  his  men  had  started  to  hang 
some  revenue  officers,  and  I  ran  down  there." 

"  Ah,  it  was  daring  of  you,"  he  said. 

"  They  know  me  as  a  De  Bertrand." 


io8  CHALMETTE 

"  Dear "  he  began. 

"  You  must  not,"  she  said. 

"  I  must  not  wish  to  take  you, — in  my 
arms, — to  tell  you " 

"  No,  no,"  she  said.  "  I  won't  hear  you 
talk  in  that  way.  And  even  if  I  wanted  to 
allow  it,  I  wouldn't, — the  pirate's  grand-, 
daughter  and  a  Robe  of  Westmore  !"  and  she 
laughed  softly. 

"You  have  half-confessed,"  Kit  insisted. 
"  I  love  you,  dear.  I  love  you." 

"And  that  other  girl ?" 

"  That  girl !"  he  said.    "  Who  told  you  "?" 

"  Ah,  there  was  something  to  tell,"  she 
cried.  "  Well,  I  have  very  good  authority, 
— no  less  than  Mr.  Ronald's." 

"  That  fellow, — you  know  him  ?" 

"  I  think  him  very  nice." 

"  Eh,  you  do  ?  He  will  hear  from  me. 
Are  you  safe  here, — in  this  place  ?" 

"  They  are  my  grandfather's  people,"  she 
said,  with  a  certain  ring  of  pride. 

"  And  you  are  Jean  Lafitte's  ward  ?" 

"  He  manages  my  grandfather's  property," 
she  said.  For  a  moment  they  were  silent. 


CHALMETTE  109 

"  I  wish  I  could  do  something,"  he  said. 

"  What  did  I  tell  you  to  do  when  you  left 
Virginia  ?" 

"  My  part." 

"Do  it  now, — in  this  trouble, — this  war 
which  will  visit  us  here." 

"  Will  it  please  you  ?" 

"  Yes,  as  much  as  anything  may." 

A  door  opened  and  no  less  a  person  than 
La  Roux  entered.  He  glanced  from  Miss 
Maurice  to  Robe. 

"  Mr.  Lafitte  sends  for  you,  sir." 

"  You  must  go,"  she  said. 

"  I  shall  see  you  again  before  I  leave  Bar- 
ataria." 

"  You  must  not  expect  that,"  she  said. 
"  They  will  not  let  you." 

"  Why  ?" 

"  I  don't  wish  it." 

"  You  ?"  he  asked. 

"  Yes,  I." 

"  I  shall  make  you  wish  it,"  Robe  said. 
"  That  is  all.  There  will  be  another  day  for 
us,  Sallie." 

And  he  followed  La  Roux. 


CHAPTER    VIII 

THE  ENTERTAINMENT  TO  HIS  MAJESTY'S 
OFFICERS 

"  MR.  LAFITTE  bids  you  to  his  board.  He 
has  prepared  a  slight  entertainment  for  some 
British  officers." 

"  British  officers  ?"  Robe  said.  "  The  guns 
we  heard  were  from  a  British  vessel ?" 

"  From  the  brig  Norfolk." 

What  other  purpose  than  one  to  tempt 
Lafitte  had  brought  the  Norfolk  to  Barataria  ? 
And  he  began  seriously  to  consider  whether, 
indeed,  if  the  Lafittes  were  earnest  in  their 
protestations  of  their  allegiance  to  the  United 
States,  it  might  not  be  better  to  accept  their 
propositions.  But  the  delicate  question  was 
whether  they  were  in  earnest.  Yet  the  words 
and  face  of  the  dying  man, — for  he  was  sure 
De  Bertrand  was  dying, — carried  to  Robe's 
heart  a  feeling  that  Lafitte  had  been  so. 

He  was  taken  into  a  room  where  he  was 


CHALMETTE  in 

told  to  make  ready  for  the  banquet  which 
was  prepared.  He  was  surprised  at  this 
haste,  but  he  afterwards  learned  that  the 
arrangements  had  been  made  to  impress  Caf- 
ferty  and  himself,  and  that  the  appearance  of 
the  British  brig  was  indeed  a  surprise  to 
Barataria. 

While  he  expected  almost  any  lavish  and 
barbaric  display,  the  dining-room  to  which 
he  was  taken  was  surprising.  The  room 
might  have  been  in  any  polite  centre.  The 
silver  was  of  the  rarest  designs,  and  he  was 
to  find  the  most  palatable  French  and 
Spanish  wines,  and  game  and  meats  of  the 
varieties  afforded  by  the  locality. 

Cafferty  was  there  with  a  rather  puzzled 
expression,  and  the  three  British  officers,  a 
grizzled  captain  who  had  served  with  Nelson, 
Lieutenant  the  Earl  of  Burnham,  and  a  fair 
young  lieutenant  whose  name  Robe  lost, 
though  he  was  placed  next  him  at  table. 

Lafitte  greeted  him  with  the  manner  of  a 
man  of  fashion,  and  certainly  his  tailor, — for 
he  had  dressed  for  the  occasion, — was  excel 
lent. 


112  CHALMETTE 

"  You  have  been  to  my  old  friend,  De 
Bertrand,"  he  said.  "  He  can't  live." 

"  I  was  much  surprised  with  him,"  Robe 
said.  "  I  find  his  granddaughter  and  I  are 
old  acquaintances." 

"  Oh,  Miss  Maurice,"  Lafitte  said,  and  he 
looked  at  Robe  keenly.  "  I  had  forgotten 
that  my  introduction  to  you  came  through 
Philip  Maurice.  Now,  will  you  sit  down, 
gentlemen  ?" 

From  that  moment  he  charmed  his  guests, 
who  looked  on  him  with  wonder.  And, 
in  fact,  it  needs  not  Kit's  testimony  to  de 
clare  the  grace,  the  wordliness  of  this  man, 
who,  whatever  his  past,  had  the  most  delight 
ful  manners  of  any  gentleman  of  Kit's  ac 
quaintance. 

"  We  might  be  in  England,"  said  the 
young  gentleman  at  Robe's  side.  "  I  am  not 
so  much  surprised,  since  I  have  been  in  New 
Orleans." 

"  Have  you  ?"  said  Robe,  absently. 

"  Yes,  before  the  war.  We  were  chasing 
pirates.  We  tried  to  chase  you  fellows 
since,  but,  I  say,  you  have  put  up  some 


CHALMETTE  113 

splendid  fights.  We  appreciate  your  sail 
ors." 

"  Yes,"  said  Robe,  quietly ;  "  I,  too,  am 
proud  of  them,  and  when  the  tribute  comes 
from  you  it's  all  the  more  forcible." 

"  Oh,  you  forced  us  to  it  with  your  Law 
rences  and  your  Perrys.  Nor  am  I  proud  of 
the  burning  of  Washington.  I  fancy  we'll 
be  at  you  down  here  directly." 

"  Yes,"  said  Robe,  "  we  expect  that." 

"  You  are  well  divided  up, — Spaniards  for 
Spain,  French  for  France,  and  pirates " 

He  looked  about  significantly. 

"  I  have  changed  my  mind  about  'em. 
Money  gives  even  pirates  a  manner,  though 
that  man  has  breeding.  I  declare,  you 
wouldn't  suspect  him  of  the  bloody  truth. 
Now  isn't  it  cunning  of  him  ?  We  are  both 
down  here  on  a  mission,  I  fancy.  He  lets 
us  see  that  he  is  negotiating  on  both  sides 
and  puts  up  his  price.  He  dines  us  both 
together." 

"  I  wonder  if  that  is  the  case  ?"  said 
Robe.  "  By  the  way,  you  know  I  lost  your 
name." 


114  CHALMETTE 

"  I  am  doing  it  always  myself, — Beau 
mont." 

"  And  you  were  in  New  Orleans  before 
the  war?  You  know  Deschamps  and  the 
De  Reniers  ?" 

"  You  know  Mademoiselle  Marie !"  the 
young  officer  cried. 

"  I  indeed  do,  and  we  have  talked  of  you." 

"She  remembers  me,  eh?" 

"  I  think  you  made  a  decided  impres 
sion." 

"  Don't  flatter  me.  She's  a  nice  little  girl. 
But  isn't  this  odd, — that  we  should  meet? 
How  is  she  ?" 

"  As  pretty  as  ever,"  said  Robe.  "  I  think 
she  always  must  have  been,  you  know." 

"  Well,  she  was,  and  when  we  take  your 
New  Orleans  I  will  pay  her  a  visit." 

"  Oh,  perhaps  we  will  take  you  up  there," 
said  Captain  Robe. 

"  Oh,  well,  you  have  a  lot  of  picked  up 
troops  against  veterans." 

"  Yes,  I  allow  that,"  said  Robe.  "  It's  a 
grave  question." 

But  then  a  sally  of  the  host  interrupted 


CHALMETTE  115 

this  low  talk.  Robe  had  taken  a  great  liking 
to  Beaumont.  He  wondered  if  he  had 
better  tell  him  of  his  own  sentimental  esca 
pade  with  Mademoiselle.  Oh,  that  unfortu 
nate  escapade  !  And  he  thought  of  the  girl 
in  the  nearby  house  with  the  dying  chief. 

And  that  remarkable  dinner  went  on.  As 
Kit  recalls  it  now,  he  wonders  if  it  is  quite 
believable,  though  it  was  his  own  experience. 
Yet  he  finds  it  written  of  in  the  histories, 
and  there  are  many  living  to  corroborate  the 
story. 

Finally,  the  cigars  were  brought.  (It 
must  be  remarked  that  the  service  was  ex 
cellent,  the  black  servants  well  trained.) 

"  I  am  going  to  ask  Captain  Robe  and 
Major  Cafferty  to  leave  us  here  over  the 
cigars,"  Lafitte  said.  "  It  seems  there's  a 
little  private  matter  to  talk  about." 

The  British  captain  looked  suspiciously  at 
the  Americans  as  they  rose. 

"  He's  wondering  what  it  all  means,"  said 
Dennis ;  "  I  am  wondering  myself.  Let's 
walk  down  along  the  whirves,  if  they  don't 
stop  us." 


n6  CHALMETTE 

"  They  are  not  here  to  warn  them  that 
they  will  be  driven  out  of  Barataria." 

"  They  are  here  to  bribe  them  for  the 
British  service,"  Cafferty  assented. 

"  Yes,"  said  Robe.  "  Dennis,  tell  me  of 
De  Bertrand." 

"  The  old  pirate  ?" 

"  Yes." 

"  Well,  I  thought  everybody  knew.  The 
story  runs  that  seventy-five  years  ago  a  French 
merchantman  was  scuttled,  and  of  all  the 
crew  a  boy,  known  as  De  Bertrand,  was 
saved.  'Tis  a  romantic  story  enough. 
There  was  no  trace  of  his  parentage.  He 
grew  up  on  the  seas.  He  became  the  Pirate 
Bertrand,  who  was  the  worst  of  them  all. 
He  made  an  organization  of  them  before 
Lafitte's  time.  And  in  some  way  he  was 
always  carrying  some  government's  flag  as  a 
privateer;  he  was  always  escaping  positive 
proof.  And  now  he's  old,  and,  they  say, 
fabulously  rich.  It's  a  disgrace  to  Louisiana 
that  they  should  be  nested  here,"  Dennis 
ended,  in  a  burst  of  anger. 

"  He  had  two  daughters.     I  don't  know 


CHALMETTE  117 

what  became  of  one,  but  they  say  the  other 
is  a  nun  of  the  Ursulines.  What  did  they 
want  of  you  ?" 

"De  Bertrand  wanted  to  see  me,"  Robe 
said. 

"  You  saw  him,  the  old  pirate  ?" 

"  He  is  dying." 

"  Dying,  eh  ?  He  has  made  many  men 
die." 

"  Yes,  he's  a  dying  man.  He  sent  to  tell 
me  that  General  Jackson  had  better  accept 
Lafitte's  offer." 

"  That  must  have  been  impressive — from 
a  dying  man,"  Cafferty  remarked.  It  had 
impressed  Robe,  as  you  know,  but  he  did  not 
mention  having  seen  Miss  Maurice  there. 

At  this  moment  La  Roux  came  toward 
them. 

"  I  am  instructed  to  ask  you  in  here,"  he 
said,  pointing  to  a  low  house,  "  to  await  Mr. 
Lafitte." 

As  they  followed,  Cafferty  muttered, 
"  What  do  you  think  will  be  next  ?" 

La  Roux  left  them  in  a  room  by  a  win 
dow,  where  they  had  a  view  of  the  bay  and 


u8  CHALMETTE 

the  shipping.  He  did  not  say  a  word  further, 
nor  did  the  two  attempt  to  question  him  as 
with  a  nod  he  left  them,  closing  the  door. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  DIPLOMACY  OF  LAFITTE 

As  they  watched  at  the  window,  gravely 
discussing  the  situation,  they  saw  on  a  path 
the  three  British  officers.  Suddenly  from 
behind  one  of  the  warehouses  there  rushed 
out  a  score  of  those  gesticulating,  red-and- 
white  turbaned,  bare-legged  fellows,  such  as 
had  seized  them ;  and  the  three  officers  of 
his  Majesty's  brig  were  last  seen, — righting, 
and  then  accepting  the  inevitable. 

"  It's  our  story  over,"  said  Robe.  "  They 
have  enjoyed  Lafitte's  hospitality,  and  now 
they  have  a  chance  to  consider  another  side 
of  the  question, — '  pirates  or  gentlemen  ?' — 
hem!" 

"  I  picked  out  our  friend  La  Roux  in  the 
crowd,"  CarTerty  said ; "  the  same  fellow,  ex 
actly.  My  eyes  are  good." 

"  I  wonder,  Dennis,  why ?" 

119 


120  CHALMETTE 

But  a  slow,  modulated  voice  interrupted, 
and  turning  they  saw  Jean  Lafitte,  whom 
they  had  not  noticed  enter. 

"  His  Majesty's  officers  are  receiving  the 
same  attention  as  we,"  said  Robe. 

Lafitte  did  not  attempt  to  deny  his  knowl 
edge  of  the  occurrence,  though  he  lifted  his 
hands  in  pretended  astonishment. 

"Ah,  these  unruly  fellows,"  he  said. 
"  They  are  continually  trying  my  patience. 
Now  I  shall  have  to  explain  to  the  captain 
of  the  Norfolk  as  I  did  to  you.  But  they 
can  wait  for  the  present.  I  have  now  some 
thing  to  say  to  you." 

He  paused,  and  then  went  on  almost  ex 
actly  with  the  same  phrasing  that  he  after 
wards  used  in  a  certain  well-known  letter  to 
Governor  Claiborne : — 

"  Though  proscribed  in  my  adopted  coun 
try,  I  will  never  miss  an  opportunity  of 
serving  her,  or  of  proving  that  she  has  never 
ceased  to  be  dear  to  me.  I  may  have  evaded 
the  payment  of  duties  to  the  custom-house, 
but  I  never  have  ceased  to  be  a  good  citizen, 
and  all  my  offences,  such  as  they  are,  have 


CHALMETTE  121 

been  forced  on  me  by  certain  vices  of  the 
law." 

Cafferty  smiled  ironically,  knowing  this 
phrase-maker  better  than  Robe,  who  was,  in 
deed,  considerably  impressed. 

"  Now  I  will  show  you  what  this  leads 
to,"  and  he  handed  Robe  a  packet  of  de 
spatches.  "  You  will  find  a  letter  from  the 
British  commander  at  Pensacola." 

"  I  may  show  them  to  Cafferty  ?"  Robe 
asked. 

"  Of  course,"  said  Lafitte,  taking  a  chair 
and  crossing  his  legs,  and  awaiting  the  effect 
of  the  papers  on  his  guests  with  apparent 
indifference. 

Robe  read  Cafferty  an  offer  to  pay  to  Jean 
Lafitte  thirty  thousand  dollars,  either  in  Pen 
sacola  or  New  Orleans ;  to  give  him  an  army 
captaincy ;  to  secure  the  enlistment  of  his 
men  in  the  British  navy.  A  printed  pam 
phlet  accompanied  this  calling  on  the  Louis- 
ianians  "  to  rise  and  liberate  their  paternal  soil 
from  a  faithless  and  imbecile  government." 

"You  are  considering  these  overtures?" 
the  revenue  officer  said,  at  last. 


122  CHALMETTE 

"  Well,  I  am  not  a  man  to  neglect  diplo 
macy.  I  have  told  Captain  Brown  that  I 
must  lay  the  matter  before  certain  of  my 
captains." 

"And  you  have  arrested  the  British  offi 
cers  ?"  Cafferty  said. 

But  Lafitte  interrupted  with  a  fine  show 
of  scorn : 

"  They  are  my  guests,  as  you  are.  They 
shall  be  freed  in  a  moment.  I  will  escort 
them  to  their  brig.  But,  as  for  these  papers, 
you  can  see  that  your  enemy  considers  the 
Baratarians  of  some  importance." 

"  And  you  ?"  Robe  asked,  slowly. 

"  Many  of  our  friends  advise  the  British 
allegiance.  How  can  you  hold  this  State 
with  the  means  at  your  disposal  ?" 

"  But  you,  sir  ?" 

The  man  looked  at  them  intently,  and 
then  his  voice  came  out  again,  slow  and 
measured : 

"  You  may  assure  the  governor  and  the 
general  that  I  offer  to  restore  to  the  State 
certain  citizens,  who  will  be  ready  to  do  their 
utmost  for  the  common  defence.  The  only 


CHALMETTE  123 

reward  I  ask  is  that  a  stop  be  put  on  the  per 
secution  against  me  and  my  supporters.  Yet, 
whether  my  offer  be  refused  or  accepted,  I 
will  refuse  the  British." 

The  two  listeners  said  nothing,  when  La 
fitte  added,  rather  coldly, — 

"  That  is  all.  I  can  say  no  more.  Your 
sloop  is  ready  now." 

"  We  shall  carefully  report  your  words, 
Mr.  Lafitte,"  Cafferty  said. 

"  And  I  for  my  part  will  state  my 
belief  that  your  proposition  should  be 
accepted,"  Robe  put  in.  "  You  say  our 
men  are  ready.  Well,  allow  me  to  say 
that  I  for  one  have  appreciated  your  hos 
pitality." 

Lafitte  inclined  his  head. 

"  La  Roux,"  he  called,  when  the  door 
opened,  showing  that  individual,  whom  Caf 
ferty  thought  he  had  seen  in  the  attack  on 
the  British  officers.  La  Roux  smiled  mock 
ingly  at  them. 

"  You  will  escort  Captain  Robe  and  Major 
Cafferty  to  their  sloop,  and  see  that  their  men 
are  satisfied  with  their  treatment." 


124  CHALMETTE 

"  I  wish,  if  I  may,"  said  Robe,  hesitatingly, 
"  to  pay  my  respects  to  Miss  Maurice." 

"Ah,  yes,  you  know  Captain  de  Ber- 
trand's  granddaughter,"  said  Lafitte,  quickly. 
"  I  first  met  you  through  an  introduction 
from  Philip  Maurice,"  he  added,  repeating 
what  he  had  said  at  the  dinner. 

"  Yes,  Mr.  Lafitte.  I  suppose "  and 

he  hesitated.  He  was  going  to  say  that  he 
supposed  it  was  safe  for  Miss  Maurice  in 
Barataria.  But  he  did  not  commit  that 
indiscretion. 

"  La  Roux,"  said  Lafitte,  slowly,  "  take 
Mr.  Robe  to  Captain  de  Bertrand's.  But 
do  not  wait  there  too  long.  I  wish  these 
two  to  be  on  the  river  again  before  the 
officers  of  the  Norfolk  are  released.  I  shall 
have  to  apologize  to  them." 

"And  I  am  obliged,  sir,"  said  Captain 
Robe,  again.  "  I  have  told  you  what  my 
report  shall  be." 

"  And  mine,  sir,"  said  CafTerty,  as  they  fol 
lowed  La  Roux  outside. 

"  You  didn't  tell  me  of  this  Miss  Mau 
rice  ?"  he  added  to  his  companion. 


CHALMETTE  125 

"  I  really  didn't,"  Robe  replied.  "  She  is 
De  Bertrand's  granddaughter." 

"  And  so  is  part  of  the  Lafitte  establish 
ment.  She  probably  will  inherit  a  consid 
erable  property  from  De  Bertrand.  Lafitte 
looked  at  you  with  some  dislike  when  you 
asked  the  question." 

"  You  think  that  ?" 

44 1  know,  and  he  rarely  betrays  a  thought 
by  look  or  action.  I  have  been  thinking 
how  shrewd  he  is.  He  will  end,  through 
this  war,  in  getting  restored  to  citizenship." 

They  were  talking  in  low  tones,  La  Roux 
a  little  ahead  of  them.  At  last  he  stopped 
before  the  De  Bertrand  house. 

"  I  can  let  you  have  ten  minutes,  sir,"  La 
Roux  said.  "  Major  CafFerty  and  I  will  wait 
you  outside." 

The  black  servant  at  the  door  hesitated 
when  he  asked  for  Miss  Maurice,  but  finally 
he  consented  to  inquire.  He  had  the  strict 
est  orders,  he  added,  that  she  should  see  no 
one  at  all,  save  Mr.  Lafitte  and  Mr.  Ronald, 
who  was  expected  from  New  Orleans.  Robe 
started  at  this  last  name.  This  man  had  told 


126  CHALMETTE 

her  of  his  affair  with  Mademoiselle  de  Re- 
nier,  and  he  was  expected  here. 

"And  more,  sir,  Captain  de  Bertrand 
died  a  half-hour  since." 

Lafitte  had  not  known  that  when  he  per 
mitted  the  visit.  The  old  man  must  have 
died  shortly  after  Robe  had  left  her. 

"  Please  to  give  Miss  Maurice  my  sym 
pathy,"  he  said,  in  a  changed  voice.  "  If  she 
can  see  me,  I  should  like  it.  I  am  Chris 
topher  Robe  ;  your  mistress  will  know." 

In  a  few  moments  the  man  returned  and 
bade  him  in.  He  was  conscious  that  the 
ten  minutes  La  Roux  had  allowed  him  must 
be  near  passed. 

She  was  awaiting  him  in  a  room  at  the 
right  of  the  hall.  Her  voice  was  grave  and 
listless  and  her  eyes  sad. 

"  I  am  glad  you  came  again,"  she  said, 
softly. 

"  I  wish  I  might  take  you  away." 

"  No,  no ;  but  you  can  do  me  a  favor  in 
New  Orleans.  You  can  go  to  the  Ursulines 
and  see  my  aunt.  I  am  glad  I  came  here. 
My  instinct  about  it  was  right." 


CHALMETTE  127 

"  Yes,  I  am  sure  it  was,"  Robe  agreed. 
But — I  hate  to  leave  you  here." 

"  I  am  as  safe  here  as  anywhere  in  the 
world.  I  am  in  Mr.  Lafitte's  charge." 

Robe  felt  jealous  of  Lafitte ;  he  was  so 
handsome,  so  charming ;  and  there  was  this 
Ronald. 

"  Ronald  is  interested  in  the  Baratarians," 
he  said. 

"  Yes,"  she  acknowledged. 

"  Pardon  me,"  came  the  black's  voice ; 
"  Monsieur  La  Roux  says  he  must  hurry 
you." 

He  took  her  hand. 

"I  shall  see  you  in  New  Orleans  ?"  he  said. 

"  I  don't  know  even  that." 

"  But  I  shall  keep  on  telling  you  what 
I  have." 

"  Hush  !"  she  said.  "  There  is  that  other 
girl,  Kit  ?"  she  added,  with  a  little  laugh. 

"  Bother  that  other  girl !"  he  said.  "  I  have 
a  great  mind  to  kiss  you, — to  make  you  take 
back  your  words." 

"  And  then  to  think  of  it,"  she  said,  "  the 
pirate's  granddaughter " 


128  CHALMETTE 

"  You  foolish  girl,  you  said  that  once  be 
fore.  What  do  I  care  for  that,  or  anything  ? 
It's  you, — you  alone." 

"  You  must  go  now.  You  have  your 
duty.  They  will  not  let  you  stay  here 
longer." 

"  I  will  tell  them  what  he  told  me,"  Robe 
said.  "  I  mustn't  bother  you  more  now." 

Again  he  took  her  hand,  which  she  did 
not  withdraw,  and  then,  leaving  her,  he  went 
out  to  La  Roux  and  Cafferty. 

"  The  captain  is  dead,"  said  La  Roux, 
awed. 

"  The  captain  is  dead,"  said  Robe. 

What  would  this  mean  to  Sallie  Maurice  ? 
what  to  him,  now  that  she  was  identified 
with  these  lawless  men  ?  Yet  he  certainly 
couldn't  take  her  away  now.  And  then  he 
remembered  Sister  Madeleine,  to  whom  he 
bore  the  message.  She,  perhaps,  could  tell 
htm  more ;  and  he  would  tell  her  frankly  his 
own  position. 


CHAPTER  X 

MONSIEUR  CLEMENT 

THE  wind,  as  well  as  the  current,  was 
against  them,  and  the  sloop  made  slow 
progress.  The  men  were  in  the  best  of 
humors,  and  had  forgotten,  in  their  subse 
quent  reception,  the  indignities  and  dangers 
of  the  earlier  one.  Robe  was  silent.  The 
events  of  the  Baratarian  visit  seemed  like  a 
dream, — the  strange  complications  surround 
ing  one  whom  he  had  always  known.  And 
yet  he  felt  it  was  all  real  enough ;  and  he 
wondered  in  apprehension  of  what  the  sequel 
would  prove. 

They  stopped  the  first  night  at  Mr.  Brow- 
nell's,  who  was  much  interested  in  the  result 
of  their  mission,  though  they  were  not  at 
liberty  to  tell  him.  Robe  asked  him  if  he 
thought  that  his  neighbor,  Ronald,  had  not 
sent  on  the  word  which  led  to  their  reception 
at  Barataria.  Mr.  Brownell  said  this  was 
9  129 


130  CHALMETTE 

probable ;  Ronald,  like  so  many  others,  was 
hand-in-glove  with  the  Baratarians. 

"  His  mother  was  an  Englishwoman,  and 
he  has  lived  much  in  England,"  said  Robe,  re 
membering  that  story.  And  he  wondered  how 
far  Ronald's  influence  would  be  exerted  to 
have  the  Lafittes  accept  the  English  proposal. 

"  Ronald's  wealth,  his  fame  as  a  duellist,— 
he  has  killed  three  men, — make  him  a  man 
to  be  cultivated  by  the  Lafittes,"  Brownell 
said.  "  Who  is  there  in  Louisiana  who  is 
not  in  their  interest  ?  I  sometimes  ask.  They 
own  the  Legislature,  body  and  soul,  and 
Cafferty  knows  you  can't  get  the  militia  to 
fight  them.  Do  ye  remember  the  argument 
once  advanced,  that  it  would  be  fighting 
France ;  that  Jean  Lafitte  had  letters-of- 
marque  from  Napoleon  ?" 

"I  shall  see  the  day  when  the  place  is 
burned  down,"  said  Cafferty,  moodily. 

"  The  governor  has  sent  out  the  old  proc 
lamation,"  said  Mr.  Brownell ;  "  five  hundred 
dollars  for  Jean  or  Pierre  Lafitte's  arrest, — a 
thousand  for  both.  They  can't  put  their 
hands  on  Pierre  this  time." 


CHALMETTE  131 

"  But  they  have  been  cleared  by  the 
courts !"  Robe  cried. 

"  It's  another  act,"  said  Brownell.  "  The 
news  is  down  here ;  a  revenue  collector, 
Doane,  was  shot  last  week  by  Lafitte's 
order." 

"  We  came  near  being  hung,"  said  Robe ; 
and  he  told  the  story  of  their  own  experience 
with  Belouche's  crew.  Cafferty  added  the 
episode  of  the  interruption  by  De  Bertrand's 
granddaughter  and  Captain  Dominique  You 
when  Robe  was  silent.  This  news  of  the 
death  of  the  collector  seemed  to  stir  up  Caf 
ferty  considerably,  and  he  swore  a  little. 

"  You  mustn't  forget  the  situation  and  the 
messages  we  have  to  deliver,"  said  Robe. 

But  the  next  afternoon  they  had  a  strange 
adventure,  which  indicated  that  Jean  Lafitte 
perhaps  did  not  trust  them  entirely  for  a  dis 
passionate  representation  of  his  position. 

CafFerty  had  been  asked  by  Governor 
Claiborne  to  stop  at  the  plantation  of  a 
Madame  Demarche,  and  to  offer  to  escort 
Mrs.  Claiborne,  who  was  stopping  there,  to 
the  city.  They  reached  Madame  Demarche's 


132  CHALMETTE 

about  three  of  the  afternoon  of  the  day  after 
leaving  Mr.  Brownell's, — the  wind  having 
continued  persistently  against  them.  They 
expected  to  reach  the  city  about  nine  that 
night. 

Robe  accompanied  Cafferty  to  the  house- 
door.  Dennis  remarked  that  the  place  seemed 
deserted.  A  trim  mulatto  girl  came  to  the 
door,  it  seemed  nervously. 

"  My  respects  to  Madame,  Henriette," 
Cafferty  said.  "  Is  Madame  Claiborne 
here?" 

"  Oui,  M'sieur." 

"  Will  you  announce  me  and  Captain 
Robe.  The  governor  suggested  that  I  stop 
here  on  my  way  to  the  city." 

"  I  will  see,  M'sieur ;  they  are  dining." 

"  Don't  let  us  interrupt." 

"  I'll  see,  M'sieur,"  said  the  girl  again. 
"  Come  in,  Messieurs,"  she  said,  return 
ing. 

It  was  Madame  Demarche  who  greeted 
them,  also  rather  embarrassed,  Cafferty  after 
wards  said  from  his  knowledge  of  this 
charming  lady. 


CHALMETTE  133 

Oh,  Madame  was  going  to  keep  Madame 
Claiborne  another  day, — another  day. 

"  Monsieur  Clement  wishes  to  see  Madame 
for  a  moment,"  said  Henriette,  at  the  door. 

Madame  begged  to  be  excused  and  ran 
out,  and  returned  directly,  pale,  anxious- 
eyed. 

"  He  says  I  need  not  fear  you.  But  you 
are  officers?" 

"What  may  it  be,  Madame?"  Dennis 
asked. 

"  Oh,  Monsieur,  this  Monsieur  Clement  is 
Monsieur  Jean  Lafitte." 

"  Jean  Lafitte  !"  Cafferty  cried.  "  We  left 
him  at  Barataria." 

And  Robe,  whose  ear  was  more  wonted  to 
French,  understood.  Jean  Lafitte  here  as 
soon  as  they  ?  And  then  he  remembered  that 
Lafitte  might  have  come  by  a  shorter  way, 
for  who  knew  the  devious  windings  of  the 
bayous  better  than  he  ?  But  Madame,  hav 
ing  confessed,  went  on : 

"  You  won't  hurt  him,  Monsieur  Cafferty  ; 
he  says  you  won't, — that  you  have  a  message 
from  him  to  the  governor.  He  has  a  price 


134  CHALMETTE 

on  his  head.  And  he  came  here  at  noon  to 
day.  He  said  he  was  on  his  way  to  the  city. 
I  said,  '  Monsieur,  you  must  not  go  there. 
You  must  return  at  once.  Your  life,  I  tell 
you,  is  in  danger.'  You  know  Monsieur 
Lafitte,  he  laughed  at  me,  and  who  should 
enter  just  then  but  my  guest,  Mrs.  Claiborne  *? 
What  could  I  do  ?  I  introduced  him  as 
Monsieur  Clement,  and  then  I  went  out  of 
the  room  and  called  Henriette.  '  Henriette,' 
said  I,  '  Governor  Claiborne  has  put  a  price 
on  M.  Lafitte's  head.  Any  one  who  delivers 
him  to  the  government  will  receive  five  hun 
dred  dollars,  and  Monsieur's  head  will  be 
cut  off.  Send  the  servants  and  the  children 
away.  Set  the  table  and  wait  yourselves, 
and  remember  Monsieur  is  Monsieur  Clem 
ent.'  Now  you  come,  and  he  directs  me  to 
tell  you  he  is  here." 

"  He  need  not  fear  us  till  after  our  report 
to  the  governor,"  said  Dennis. 

"  I  can  believe  you,  Monsieur  *?" 

"  You  can  believe  me,  Madame,"  Dennis 
replied. 

Madame  then  asked  them  in.     Mr.  Lafitte 


CHALMETTE  135 

recognized  them  with  a  nod,  and  they  ad 
dressed  him  as  M.  Clement.  Mrs.  Claiborne, 
who  never  looked  more  beautiful, — she  was 
one  of  the  handsomest  women  Robe  ever 
knew, — seemed  much  interested  in  M. 
Clement,  whose  talk  fairly  sped.  His  wit 
never  was  more  entertaining,  his  manner 
never  more  delightful,  and  he  seemed  to 
them  all  a  splendid  gentleman. 

"  You  are  to  escort  me  back  to  the  city," 
Mrs.  Claiborne  said.  "  Ah,  Captain  Robe,  I 
have  been  singing  your  praises, — what  is 
my  reward  ? — to  a  young  lady  you  are  inter 
ested  in." 

"  Who  may  that  be,  Madame  ?"  said  M. 
Clement,  urbanely. 

"  Mademoiselle  Marie  de  Renier,"  said 
Madame  Claiborne,  smiling  at  Robe,  who 
found  himself  flushing.  He  wanted  to  get  a 
word  to  Lafitte,  and  he  succeeded  while  they 
were  waiting  for  Madame  to  make  ready. 

"  I  saw  Miss  Maurice,"  he  said,  "  thanks 
to  you.  And  I  regretted  to  learn  of  Captain 
de  Bertrand's  death." 

"  Miss  Maurice  is  now  in  my  care,"  Lafitte 


136  CHALMETTE 

returned,  curtly,  "  unless  she  returns  to  Mr. 
Maurice  in  Virginia.  Eh,  sir,  you  seem  to 
have  several  interests  in  the  sex." 

"  Mademoiselle  de  Renier  ?"  Robe  said. 
"  Oh,  that  was  but  women's  talk." 

"  I  saw  our  friends  on  board  their  brig, 
after  due  apology,"  Lafitte  went  on.  "  Now 
I  am  on  my  way " 

"  To  the  city  ?  It's  dangerous  for  you 
there." 

"  Oh,  not  after  your  report,"  he  answered. 
"Ah,  here  is  Madame.  I  envy  the  gov 
ernor." 

The  governor's  lady  and  M.  Clement 
seemed  to  have  an  interesting  parting,  and 
she  was  loud  in  her  praises  of  the  gentleman 
she  had  met,  plying  the  two  with  questions 
about  him.  Why  hadn't  she  known  him 
before  ?  Wasn't  he  entertaining  ?  To  all 
of  which  Robe  and  Cafferty  agreed,  without 
letting  her  know  that  M.  Clement  was  that 
dangerous  outlaw,  Jean  Lafitte.  So  they 
came  to  the  city,  Robe  very  quiet  and  Mrs. 
Claiborne  doubtless  voting  him  stupid. 

The  two  accompanied  her  to   the  gov- 


CHALMETTE  137 

ernor's  house.  Late  as  it  was,  Governor 
Claiborne  was  awake  and  busy. 

"  Well  ?"  he  said,  turning. 

Cafferty  went  over  their  experiences  and 
Robe  corroborated  them. 

"  The  British  !"  the  governor  cried.  "  I 
thought  as  much.  And  you  saw  him, — 
with  the  price  on  him, — so  near  as  Madame 
Demarche's, — and  my  wife  met  him  ?" 

"  She  thinks  him  a  Monsieur  Clement." 

"  I  shall  not  undeceive  her.  I'll  try  to  get 
at  her  impression.  Now  what  do  you  advise, 
Captain  Robe?" 

"  I  would  accept  his  offer,"  Robe  said. 

"  And  you,  major  ?" 

"  I  wouldn't,"  said  Cafferty.  "  Make  no 
terms  with  such  law  violators." 

"  We  in  Louisiana  are  not  in  a  strong 
position,"  said  the  governor,  quietly.  "  But 
I'll  think  about  it.  Be  here  at  nine  in  the 
morning,  Captain  Robe,  and  I  will  give  you 
my  conclusions  to  carry  to  General  Jack 
son." 

Robe  left  Cafferty  without  many  words ; 
he  was  inclined  to  quarrel  with  that  worthy's 


138  CHALMETTE 

conclusion.  Simon  Wesley  was  awaiting 
him  sleepily  after  the  episodes  of  that  ex 
citing  journey.  As  for  the  master,  though 
perplexed  and  troubled  about  several  matters, 
he  fell  into  dreamless  sleep,  to  be  awakened 
by  Simon  Wesley  about  nine  in  the  morn 
ing.  He  dressed,  ate  a  light  breakfast,  and 
hurried  to  the  governor's. 

In  the  corridor  he  met  Mrs.  Claiborne, 
who,  looking  very  lovely  indeed  at  this  early 
hour,  was  talking  with  a  gentleman.  Startled, 
Robe  saw  that  this  was  no  other  than  La- 
fitte. 

"Ah,  Monsieur,  I  am  charmed  to  see 
you,"  Madame  was  saying.  "You  have 
been  announced  to  my  husband  ?" 

"  With  your  permission,  I  am  on  my  way 
there." 

Robe  hesitated.  Had  Lafitte  been  bidden 
to  New  Orleans  by  the  governor  ?  Or  had 
the  subtle  man  decided  to  bring  his  person 
ality  to  bear  on  the  governor  *?  Robe  thought 
of  all  this  as  he  hesitated  there.  Madame's 
voice  reached  in  on  his  brief  revery. 

"  My  husband    expects   you  as   well   as 


CHALMETTE  139 

Monsieur  Clement,"  she  said,  and  Robe  fol 
lowed  Lafitte.  The  man  had  ventured  into 
the  lion's  den ;  he  might  be  seized  at  any 
moment. 

The  door  opened.  Lafitte  paused  on  the 
threshold  while  his  eyes  sought  the  gov 
ernor's.  Robe  paused,  Madame,  looking 
curiously  in,  just  behind  him. 

"  Sir,"  said  the  man  in  the  doorway,  "  I 
am  Lafitte." 

Never  did  a  man  look  up  with  greater 
astonishment  than  did  Governor  Claiborne. 
Madame  gave  a  scream,  and  her  hand  invol 
untarily  clutched  Robe's  arm. 

"  Sir  ?"  said  the  governor,  as  if  not  quite 
understanding. 

"  One  moment,  sir,"  said  Lafitte.  "  You 
have  put  a  price  on  my  head  *?" 

"  On  a  pirate's  head,"  said  Claiborne,  study 
ing  his  visitor's  face. 

Lafitte  advanced  into  the  room.  Sud 
denly  from  his  coat  he  drew  two  pistols, 
cocked  and  primed. 

"  I  shall  do  you  no  harm,  Governor  Clai 
borne  ;  I  will  not  so  embarrass  Madame. 


140  CHALMETTE 

You  needn't  call  on  Captain  Robe.  But  I 
am  armed,  because  if  you  attempt  to  detain 
me,  I  must  try  to  get  to  the  street. 

"  Wait,  sir,"  he  added ;  "  I  have  come  here 
voluntarily  to  make  a  personal  offer  of  my 
services  to  this  State  against  the  British.  My 
men  are  disciplined,  brave, — there  are  none 
better  in  any  army.  Does  the  State  accept  ? 
or  no  ?" 

The  room  fell  still.  Madame,  her  hand 
still  unconsciously  on  Robe's  arm,  looked 
from  Monsieur  Clement — this  pirate  Lafitte  ! 
— to  her  husband,  who  seemed  to  be  consid 
ering  the  situation, — to  be  studying  this 
visitor. 

"  I  have  Major  Cafferty's  and  Captain 
Robe's  report,"  he  said  at  last. 

"  I  have  nothing  to  add  to  that,"  said  La- 
fitte,  slowly,  fingering  his  pistols. 

A  moment  more  passed. 

"  Sir,"  said  the  governor  at  last,  '*  I  accept/' 

"  The  men,  sir,  will  be  at  daylight  the  day 
after  to-morrow  awaiting  your  orders  at 
Madame  Demarche's." 

Lafitte  bowed   as   he   finished,  and  then 


CHALMETTE  141 

inclined  his  head  to  Madame  and  walked 
out. 

"  I  think,"  said  the  governor,  "  that  now, 
Captain  Robe,  you  can  make  your  report  to 
General  Jackson.  You  will  start  this  morn- 
ing." 

"  Pardon  me,"  said  Madame,  slowly,  her 
black  eyes  turning  from  her  husband  to 
Robe ;  "  you  knew,  Mr.  Robe,  that  he  was 
Lafitte  ?" 

"  I  knew." 

"  And  Madame  Demarche  deceived  me, — 
because " 

"  Because  he  had  a  price  on  his  head,"  the 
governor  himself  explained. 

"  He  hasn't  it  now  ?"  Madame  asked. 
"  He  is  so  handsome  !" 

"Eh,  dear,  that  pardons  a  man,  or  con 
demns  a  woman, — with  a  woman.  I  knew 
last  night  that  this  Monsieur  Clement  of 
yours  was  Monsieur  Lafitte." 

"  And  you  never  told  me  ?" 

"  I  wanted  to  see  what  you  thought  of 
him  as  Clement,"  said  the  governor. 

"  Yet  you  left  me  deceived  ?"  said  Madame, 


142  CHALMETTE 

with  a  pout, — "  you  left  me  deceived.  What 
if  he  had  never  appeared  here !" 

"  Do  you  think  less  of  him  as  Lafitte  or 
Clement  ?"  the  governor  asked. 

"  If,"  said  Madame,  reflectingly,  "  this 
meeting  hadn't  taken  place,  and  you  had 
told  me  he  was  Lafitte,  I  should  have  held 
him  interesting,  even  as  Lafitte.  And  now- 
having  known  him  as  Clement,  again  as 
Lafitte, — for  haven't  you  accepted  his  offer  ? 
— I  am  inclined  to  think  him  a  very  won 
derful  and  agreeable  man." 

"  I  must  side  with  you,  my  dear,"  said  the 
governor,  "  though  no  man  in  Louisiana  has 
made  me  more  trouble." 

"  But  wasn't  it  a  delightful  adventure  !" 
said  Madame,  turning  to  Captain  Robe. 


CHAPTER   XI 

THE  URSULINE  SISTER 

MR.  RAOUL  DESCHAMPS  and  M.  de  St. 
Geme  some  two  hours  after  this  were  return 
ing  from  their  review  of  the  creole  company, 
which  M.  de  St.  Geme  commanded,  when 
Deschamps  saw  his  friend,  Captain  Robe. 

"  Where  have  you  been  *?"  Deschamps 
asked.  "  Ah,  I  have  missed  you.  And  a 
certain  young  lady  I  know  has  asked  after 
you.  M.  de  St.  Geme,  M.  Robe,"  Des 
champs  continued,  speaking  French,  recog 
nizing  Robe's  new  skill  with  that  tongue. 
Captain  Robe  was  to  know  much  of  this 
same  M.  de  St.  Geme. 

"  I  have  met  a  friend  of  hers  in  Barataria," 
Robe  said.  "  And  you  can  do  me  the  favor 
of  letting  her  know  that,  as  I  leave  the  city 
within  an  hour  for  Mobile." 

"  Who  may  that  be  ?" 

«43 


144  CHALMETTE 

"You  remember  a  Lieutenant  Beaumont 
you  told  me  about  *?" 

"You  found  a  British  ship  in  Barata- 
ria !" 

"  I  am  told  to  make  it  no  secret,"  Robe 
replied.  "  The  British  were  approaching  La- 
fitte,  and — I  have  the  authority  of  the  gover 
nor  to  make  the  statement,  with  the  assurance 
that  he  fully  believes  it — Jean  Lafitte  re 
jected  their  propositions." 

M.  de  St.  Geme  said  he  knew  that  such 
would  be  the  case.  He  had  every  confidence 
in  Jean  Lafitte's  patriotism  ;  besides,  New  Or 
leans  needed  the  assistance  of  all  her  fighting 
men. 

"  But  haven't  you  time  to  tell  Mademoi 
selle  de  Renier  in  person,"  Deschamps  inter 
rupted,  "  that  her  lieutenant  was  of  that  ship's 
company  *?  But  I  make  a  shrewd  guess  my 
self  that  our  little  friend  has  forgotten  every 
thing  else  in  thought  of  Captain  Robe." 

"  You  are  mistaken,"  Robe  said,  quickly. 
"  Mademoiselle  Marie  and  I  understand  each 
other.  Do  tell  her  this  for  me,  with  my 
regards.  Now  one  more  favor, — can  you 


CHALMETTE  145 

find  out  if  I  can  see  Jean  Lafitte  ?  I  believe 
he  must  be  in  New  Orleans." 

"  With  the  price  on  his  head,"  Deschamps 
said  ;  "  still,  that  fact  once  didn't  bother  him 
so  much.  You  wish  to  see  him  ?  I  will  be 
at  your  lodging  within  the  hour.'' 

Robe  thanked  him  for  the  trouble  and 
then  went  to  pay  the  visit  on  the  Ursulines 
he  had  promised  Miss  Maurice.  He  wanted 
to  see  Lafitte  again  before  he  left  New  Or 
leans  ;  he  did  not  know  when  he  might 
return.  He  wished  to  talk  with  Lafitte  about 
De  Bertrand's  granddaughter,  and  yet  he 
hardly  knew  what  he  could  say.  Nor  was  it 
quite  clear  to  him  what  he  would  talk  of  at 
the  Ursulines  beyond  the  bare  news  he  had 
to  report  of  Sister  Madeleine's  father's  death. 
To  carry  such  news  is  not  at  the  best  pleasing, 
and  he  thought  how  he  would  better  word  it 
as  he  looked  in  through  the  grating  at  the 
porter.  But  when,  some  moments  after,  he 
was  in  Sister  Madeleine's  presence,  he  said 
simply, — 

"  I  am  from  Barataria.  Captain  de  Ber- 
trand  died  three  days  ago." 


146  CHALMETTE 

"  You  have  been  there,  sir,"  she  said,  and 
then,  more  slowly,  "  he  is  dead, — my  father." 

And  suddenly  she  knelt  down  and  prayed, 
and  Robe  turned  away.  When  he  looked 
up  she  sat  there,  calm  and  still. 

"  My  niece  was  there.  You  know  she  is 
my  niece  ?" 

"  Is  it  safe  for  her  ?  Yes,  for  I  bring  you 
her  message." 

Then  quickly,  impulsively,  he  told  his 
own  story,  not  hiding  his  faults  nor  the  flirta 
tion  with  Mademoiselle  de  Renier.  Sister 
Madeleine's  face  seemed  to  draw  the  words 
from  him,  whether  he  would  or  no, — seemed 
to  lead  him  on  to  this  confidence.  At  last 
she  said, — 

"  I  think  you  straightforward,  honest.  I 
told  you  that  before.  But  we  of  the  De 
Bertrands  have  a  heavy  burden, — a  curse." 

"  He  did  not  fear  it, — your  father,  Felix 
de  Bertrand,"  he  said. 

"  No,  he  was  no  more  afraid  of  death  than 
he  was  of  men,"  she  said  proudly.  "  I  wish 
I  had  been  with  my  niece.  I  did  not  think 
his  case  serious,  though  he  was  anxious  to 


CHALMETTE  147 

have  her  there.  In  Virginia  you  were  boy 
and  girl  together  " 

"And  I  don't  like  to  have  her  misunder 
stand  me  about  my  attentions  to  some  one 
else."  he  said. 

"  Oh,  Mademoiselle  de  Renier,"  the  nun 
said  with  a  smile ;  "  she  was  educated  with 
us." 

"  Girls  are  so  stubborn  about  some  fancies 
they  get  into  their  heads,"  said  Kit. 

"  You  think  you  understand  them  ?"  said 
the  nun,  still  smiling.  "  I  will  tell  her  that 
I  like  you  ;  I  am  rarely  wrong.  But  as  for 
herself,  I  don't  know  positively.  She  has 
talked  to  me  about  taking  the  veil." 

"  Don't  let  her  do  that,  whatever  she  may 
do,"  Kit  said. 

"  That  is  between  God  and  her,"  said  the 
nun,  slowly.  "  I  was  ashamed  in  the  world, 
— my  father's  career  made  me  so, — and  I 
found  rest  here,  and  in  doing  God's  work, 
such  as  I  may.  But  as  for  her, — I  have  seen 
little  of  her,  Mr.  Robe.  She  was  always  in 
Virginia  since  the  time  she  was  taken  from 
Martinique.  She  was  brought  up  in  igno- 


148  CHALMETTE 

ranee  of  us.  She  has,  I  fancy,  some  of  his 
spirit, — the  De  Bertrand  spirit." 

Kit  told  her  of  how  at  Barataria  she  had 
ventured  to  interrupt  the  crew  who  intended 
hanging  him  and  his  companions.  The  nun 
listened,  her  chin  on  her  hand. 

"  Yes,  his  spirit." 

"  But  is  she  safe  there  ?  What  will  La- 
fitte  do  ?  Is  he  to  be  trusted  ?" 

"She  has  a  great  fortune, — gained,  you 
know  how.  I  would  have  none  of  it 
from  my  father.  Monsieur  Lafitte  might 
wish  to  arrange  her  marriage  to  further 
best  his  own  plans ;  he  has  done  such 
things.  As  for  her,  I  don't  believe  she  even 
knows  about  the  money." 

"And  Lafitte •?" 

"  You  are  jealous  of  him  ?" 

"  I  hardly  know." 

"  You  are  not  sure  of  her  ?"  said  the  nun, 
slowly.  "  No,  how  can  you  be  ?  Yet  she 
rushed  among  those  rough  men  when  she 
heard  you  were  to  be  hurt." 

"  She  would  have  done  that,  naturally,  for 
any  one." 


CHALMETTE  149 

"  Yes,  perhaps,"  Sister  Madeleine  said,  as 
if  doubtfully. 

"  Then  Ronald,— Lewis  Ronald  ?" 

"  Monsieur  Lafitte  might  approve  of  his 
suit  should  he  press  it." 

"  He  will,  I  know." 

"Well,  Mi.  Robe,  there  is  God  and  the 
Virgin  and  the  saints,  and  there  is  I,  to  pray 
to  them.  You  must  trust  me.  I  have  ac 
cepted  your  confidence  as  you  have  given  it. 
I  don't  know  what  my  niece's  nature  may 
be.  I  hope  it  is  not  as  mine  was.  I  was  a 
wild,  wilful  girl.  Her  mother  was  as  differ 
ent  from  me  as  a  girl  could  be.  But  I  will 
look  after  her,  and  the  Church  is  strong  in 
Louisiana.  Monsieur  Lafitte  himself,  though 
he  defies  the  government,  will  not  dare  chal 
lenge  it.  As  for  her  fancy, — whether  it  be 
yours  or  another's  or  St.  Ursula's, — only 
God  can  decide." 

She  pushed  her  veil  further  back  and 
looked  at  him  intently. 

"  I  can  say  no  more  on  that  subject.  But 
there's  another, — the  war.  We  think  about 
it, — we  talk  about  it, — even  in  the  convent. 


150  CHALMETTE 

War  is  wicked,  brutal.  Yet  when  two  sides 
are  striving  in  that  way,  a  prayer  may  help, 
remember." 

She  bent  her  head  and  drew  her  veil,  and 
her  voice  was  broken. 

"  My  father  made  war.  Who  knows  more 
of  it  than  I  ?  And  the  day  may  come  for 
New  Orleans  when  the  city  shall  be  prayerful 
for  its  warriors, — a  day  not  so  far  away." 

"  I  shall  have  your  good  wishes  then,  and 
perhaps  hers." 

"  Mine,  yes,  Captain  Robe,  and  hers  I 
know." 

He  thanked  the  nun  for  her  good  words 
and  went  outside  the  cool  place  into  the 
brilliant  sunshine  ;  and  he  felt  he  was  better, 
stronger  for  those  few  words.  Besides  Sister 
Madeleine,  there  was  Philip  Maurice  in  Vir 
ginia.  It  was  not  likely  that  Maurice  would 
let  Lafitte  decide  his  own  niece's  futuie.  But 
what  reasons  had  Robe  for  feeling  that  La 
fitte 's  course  would  be  against  Sallie  Mau 
rice's  happiness  ?  At  least,  he  himself  now 
could  do  no  more ;  he  would  go  at  once  to 
the  general  at  Mobile. 


CHALMETTE  151 

He  found  Deschamps  awaiting  him  with 
the  same  frivolous  flow  of  talk  he  always 
had.  But  his  jests  now  seemed  stupid  to  Robe. 

"  How  about  Jean  Lafitte  ?"  he  asked. 

"  Neither  he  nor  Pierre  is  in  the  city.  I 
can't  get  you  word  to  him." 

"  No  matter,"  said  Robe,  "  and  thank  you 
much.  No.  I'm  not  sorry  that  I  am  going 
to  leave  your  gayeties  and  your  gambling. 
But  don't  forget  the  message  to  Mademoiselle 
de  Renier." 

"No,"  said  Raoul.  "Oh,  there's  your 
stupid  friend,  Cafferty." 

Dennis,  big,  red-faced,  shock-haired,  came 
in. 

"  The  governor  gave  his  decision  ?"  he 
asked. 

"  Don't  you  know  it  ?" 

"  He  has  accepted  our  friend's  proposal, 
and  has  advised  General  Jackson  to  do  the 
same." 

"  The  devil !"  said  Cafferty.  "  I  mean  it's 
an  alliance  with  the  devil." 

Deschamps  sat  regarding  the  two  and 
whistling  a  popular  air. 


152  CHALMETTE 

"  I  wish  your  friends  were  not  all  these 
light-headed  Frenchies,"  said  Dennis  angrily, 
but  in  a  low  voice.  "  Well,  good  luck  to 
you."  And  he  went  out. 

"  What  a  brute  of  a  fellow  !"  Raoul  cried 
when  he  had  gone.  But  Robe  was  thinking 
of  Cafferty's  strong  wish  to  treat  Barataria 
without  mercy.  "  I  am  bound  to  state  his 
side  of  the  question  to  General  Jackson,"  he 
said  to  himself. 

When,  some  days  later,  Robe  had  made  his 
report  in  full,  the  general's  face  seemed  to 
become  even  more  sallow  and  wrinkled  and 
seamed ;  the  bushy  brows  seemed  to  lower 
over  the  fierce,  bright  eyes ;  they  seemed 
to  be  burning  with  the  inner  fire  of  a 
strong,  passionate  nature,  of  the  inflexible 
will. 

"  I  agree  with  Governor  Claiborne  in 
some  respects.  But  we  must  wait  and  see. 
I'm  not  sure  that  we  want  to  agree  with  the 
British  in  their  overtures  to  robbers  and  pi 
rates.  Besides,  they  are  now  making  an 
organization  against  the  Baratarians.  Let  us 
wait  to  see  what  will  happen." 


CHALMETTE  153 

"  Yet  he  is  sincere,  general,  this  man  La- 
fitte." 

"  He's  trying  to  save  himself,  that's  all," 
the  general  went  on.  "  I  can't  stop  the  ma 
chinery  of  the  Federal  government." 

Not  long  after,  Robe,  with  the  general, 
heard  that  the  settlement  of  Barataria  had 
been  destroyed,  and  that  only  the  Lafittes 
and  a  few  followers  had  escaped.  Commo 
dore  Patterson,  Colonel  Ross,  the  comman 
dant  at  New  Orleans,  and  Dennis  Cafferty 
had  been  on  this  expedition.  Robe  under 
stood  Cafferty's  feelings  towards  the  Barata- 
rians.  What  troubled  him  most  was  to  know 
whether  Miss  Maurice  had  been  there.  And 
then  one  day  he  had  this  note : 

"  MY  DEAR  MR.  ROBE, — I  write  to  let  you  know 
that  my  niece  was  with  me  when  the  expedition  against 
Barataria  took  place. 

"  SISTER  MADELEINE." 

That  was  all ;  she  said  nothing  of  how 
Miss  Maurice  was,  and  yet  Robe  felt  she  had 
kept  her  promise  to  him.  This  was  followed 
by  a  letter  from  Cafferty,  who  told  him  of 


154  CHALMETTE 

the  desolation  that  had  been  made  in  Bara- 
taria.*  Governor  Claiborne  himself  was 
angry  at  the  turn  of  affairs,  for  he  had  felt 
himself  bound  to  Jean  Lafitte.  But  the 
governor  had  been  overruled.  CarFerty  him 
self  had  thrown  up  his  state  commission  and 
was  enlisted  with  the  United  States  troops. 
They  had  brought  back  to  the  city  many 
prisoners  and  much  booty. 

Yet  they  had  found  no  evidence  that  the 
Baratarians  had  been  more  than  privateers 
save  in  one  piece  of  jewelry  which  had  be 
longed  to  a  lady  of  New  Orleans  who  had 
gone  to  sea  seven  years  before,  never  to  be 
heard  from.  And  this  was  insufficient  evi 
dence  ;  the  jewel  might  have  been  obtained  in 
many  ways.  "  Still,  I  believe  the  worst  of 
them,"  Cafferty  went  on.  "  But  where  Bara- 
taria  was, — where  we  walked  that  day, — we 
left  a  wilderness.  We  took  them  entirely 
by  surprise.  They  supposed  we  were  down 
there  to  engage  the  British.  I  know  you 

*  There  are  those  who  say  that  Lafitte' s  visit  to  Governor 
Claiborne  was  after  the  destruction  of  Barataria. — CORNELIA  ROBE 
FENWOLD. 


CHALMETTE  155 

differ  from  me  on  this  question,  but  it  had 
to  be  done." 

"  You  think  a  mistake  has  been  made  ?" 
the  general  asked  of  Captain  Robe.  "  They'll 
be  back  there." 

"  Yes,  they'll  be  back  there,  but  can  we 
get  them  in  our  service  *?" 

"  We'll  see,  we'll  see,"  the  great  Tennes- 
seean  said. 

In  recording  these  events,  now  so  long 
gone,  Robe  must  state  that  he  has  not  always 
followed  current  tradition  and  history.  These 
things  are  written  as  his  memory  carried 
them.  He  does  not  agree  with  some  of  the 
accepted  stories.  And  one  word  more  here, 
before  we  go  on  to  the  more  important 
part  of  the  narrative,  the  names  are  often 
not  the  true  ones,  and  Robe  hopes  that  by 
no  chance  he  has  used  for  his  substitutes  any 
one  ever  really  existent. 

But  the  narrative  must  not  pause  for  ex 
planation.  We  have,  awaiting  us,  the  drama 
of  Chalmette. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  ENTRANCE  OF  THE  PRINCE 

A  WEARY  man  of  iron,  in  frayed  trousers, 
yellowed  high  boots,  a  flapping,  shabby  coat, 
old  leather  cap, — a  thin,  very  erect  figure,  a 
hollow,  wrinkled,  sallow  face,  framed  by  a 
mat  of  iron-gray  hair, — a  face  expressive  of 
shrewd  alertness,  of  a  strong,  decisive  char 
acter, — such  was  he,  as  the  well-known  story 
goes,  who,  on  the  2d  of  December,  1814, 
trotted  up  to  the  Spanish  villa  at  the  junction 
of  the  Bayou  St.  John  and  the  Canal  Caron- 
delet,  where  a  breakfast,  such  as  the  cooks 
had  worked  over,  had  been  prepared  for  him. 
And  the  tired  guest,  sparing  of  his  words, — 
Robe,  who  was  of  the  general's  escort,  re 
members, — asked  only  for  hominy. 

A  certain  lady  took  our  captain  aside. 

"And  this  is  he? — the  general  who  is 
to  defend  us, — this" — her  voice  sank  to 
156 


CHALMETTE  157 

contemptuousness — "  this  Kaintuck  flatboat- 
man?" 

"  You  should  see  him  on  another  day," 
the  aide  said,  diplomatically,  "  You  will 
find  him  a  man  entirely  different." 

"Oh,  I  prepared  this  breakfast,"  quoth 
she,  despairingly,  and  crossing  her  hands. 

"  Wait  till  to-morrow,"  Robe  answered, 
smiling. 

"  A  certain  young  lady  has  been  asking 
for  you,"  the  lady  went  on.  "  I  am  about 
to  censure  Monsieur,  our  host, — ah,  you 
understand  French  now, — for  deceiving  me 
with  this  General  Jackson.  But  as  for  the 
young  lady  who  has  been  inquiring  so  ear 
nestly  about  you, — can't  you  fancy  her 
name?" 

"  Ah,  no,"  said  Kit.  "  I  have  been  among 
the  fighting  men." 

"  There  are  enough  of  them  here.  You 
will  find  the  city  all  changed.  Every  man 
who  can  serve  is  in  arms.  Why,  the  prison 
ers  are  taken  from  the  calaboose  ;  and  as  for 
the  blacks, — why,  they  never  had  so  much 
fun.  And  Lafitte, — he  is  here  from  I  don't 


158  CHALMETTE 

know  where, — he  has  been  in  hiding ;  but 
Captain  Dominique  You  and  Belouche  are 
organizing  the  old  band  into  two  companies. 
And,  then,  there  are  men  from  Tennessee 
and  all  the  parts  of  this  country  in  all 
kinds  of  costumes.  The  city  is  a  camp." 

And  this  interesting  lady  went  on  with 
many  little  French  expletives  expressing  her 
appreciation  of  the  situation, — her  surprise 
that  the  leader  of  all  these  assembled  men 
was  this  strange  backwoodsman,  Andrew 
Jackson. 

After  this  breakfast,  the  general,  his  tired 
face  somewhat  relaxed,  rode  to  General 
Daniel  Clarke's,  where  the  governor,  the 
mayor,  and  many  others  met  him  and 
looked  him  over  suspiciously.  But  here  a 
different  person  was  shown.  The  general 
rose  and  made  a  very  effective,  if  simply 
worded,  speech. 

"My  friends,  I  am  here  to  drive  the 
enemy  into  the  sea,  or  else  to  perish."  And 
the  interpreter  passed  the  words  on.  And 
M.  de  St.  Ge'me  turned  to  Robe, — "  He's  a 
man  who  makes  you  believe  him." 


CHALMETTE  159 

In  the  midst  of  this  entertainment  a  mes 
sage  was  brought  Captain  Robe  :  "  Mr.  Jean 
Lafitte  wishes  to  see  the  general."  Robe 
went  below,  again  astonished  at  the  man's 
extraordinary  daring. 

Jean  Lafitte  was  walking  nervously  up 
and  down. 

"  You  are  here  to  offer  your  services  ?" 

"  Certainly,  sir,"  Mr.  Lafitte  replied ; 
"  there's  no  attempt  to  disguise  my  presence 
here, — certainly." 

"  I  regret,"  said  Robe,  "  that  Barataria  has 
been  destroyed.  And  where,  pray,  is  your 
ward,  Miss  Maurice? — in  Virginia,  per 
haps?" 

"No,  at  Madame  Demarche's  planta 
tion." 

"  You  wish  me  to  tell  the  general  you  are 
here  ?" 

"  Yes,  captain,"  said  Lafitte,  calmly.  "  I 
am  here  to  offer  my  services  again.  They 
certainly  need  them." 

"  Yes,"  Robe  said ;  "  I  always  have  ad 
vised  the  acceptance  of  your  offer.  I  agreed 
with  Governor  Claiborne." 


160  CHALMETTE 

"  I  have  no  fault  to  find  with  the  governor. 
He  has  done  as  best  he  could,"  Jean  Lafitte 
said. 

"  And  Captain  de  Bertrand's  granddaugh 
ter?"  Robe  asked  again. 

"No,  Monsieur.  She  is  now  with  my 
friend,  Madame  Demarche,  as  I  told  you." 

"  I  will  go  to  speak  with  the  general,"  Robe 
said. 

The  general  was  now,  with  the  animation 
of  the  occasion,  quite  a  different  person  from 
him  who,  tired  and  looking  it,  had  entered 
the  city  some  hours  before. 

"  The  man  Jean  Lafitte  is  there,"  Robe 
said  in  a  low  voice. 

"  Eh,  to  see  me  ?" 

"  To  make  you  the  same  offer,"  Robe  an 
swered. 

"  I'll  see  him  now,"  said  the  general, 
slowly ;  and  he  followed  his  aide  out  of  the 
room,  while  that  eager,  critical  crowd  whis 
pered  about  him.  But  already  his  strong 
words  had  carried  a  certain  conviction.  The 
Creoles  had  begun  to  believe  in  him. 

Robe  shall  always  remember  the  meeting 


CHALMETTE  161 

between  General  Jackson  and  the  leader  of 
the  Baratarians ;  Lafitte,  courtly,  handsome, 
with  a  knowledge  of  men  ;  the  other,  homely, 
uncouth  to  a  certain  degree,  yet  with  that 
same  shrewd  understanding  of  humanity  and 
its  foibles. 

"  Mr.  Lafitte  ?"  said  the  general. 

"Yes,  sir,  Jean  Lafitte,  called  the  pirate, 
who  is  here  to  offer  you  five  hundred  fight 
ing  men,  and  in  Captains  Dominique  You 
and  Belouche  two  of  the  best  artillery  com 
manders  in  the  world." 

For  five  minutes  the  general  seemed  to 
hesitate,  but  at  last  he  said : 

"  Your  resolution  is  honorable,  Mr.  La 
fitte.  In  the  stress  of  these  times,  when  I'm 
told  that  fifty  sail  of  the  British  are  putting  up 
towards  us,  I  accept,  sir.  Captain,"  he  added, 
turning  to  Robe, "  I  will  ask  you  to  leave  us." 

Robe  did  not  see  Lafitte  again  that  day ; 
but  when  the  general  returned  to  General 
Clarke's  reception-room,  he  paused  to  say  in 
a  low  voice  to  his  aide  :  "  I  admire  your  dis 
crimination.  He  is  the  most  remarkable 
man  I  have  ever  met." 


162  CHALMETTE 

As  shortly  after  the  general's  carriage  drew 
through  the  streets,  the  city  seemed  wild  with 
enthusiasm.  A  great  crowd  rushed  along, 
pushing,  shouting  plaudits  in  a  half-dozen 
tongues, — a  throng  as  strange  and  motley  as 
you  could  imagine,  that  now  held,  by  the 
impulse  of  its  fervent  nature,  this  lean,  strong- 
faced  man  its  preserver.  And  when  they 
reached  the  headquarters  this  fervor  knew  no 
bounds.  The  flag  had  been  unfurled  and  blew 
there,  never  to  this  date  ( 1 857)  to  be  replaced 
by  another,  the  flag  of  the  United  States. 

The  reception  created  a  sort  of  response  in 
that  impulsive  soul,  the  general.  For,  after 
all,  he  was  a  man  of  remarkable  impulse,  as 
Robe  has  observed  is  the  case  of  many  men 
who  are  styled  geniuses. 

There  was  at  this  occasion  all  of  polite 
New  Orleans,  the  women  eager  and  chatter 
ing,  the  men  not  less  inclined  to  criticise.  To 
them  entered  a  certain  gravely  self-held  gen 
tleman,  a  soldier  in  bearing,  quietly  mannered, 
and  urbane  to  a  nicety. 

Robe  felt  a  hand  on  his  shoulder,  and  he 
turned  about  to  see  the  young  lady  who  had 


CHALMETTE  163 

caused  him  so  much  sentimental  trouble, 
Marie  de  Renier. 

"  Is  that  he  ?  I  thought  he  was  a  Ken 
tucky  flatboatman." 

Robe,  himself  rather  surprised  at  his  chief's 
polite  presence,  said, — 

"Why,  yes,  indeed;  that  is  our  general, 
Andrew  Jackson." 

"  Well,"  said  Mademoiselle,  with  one  of 
her  bewitching  smiles, "  he  is  a  prince." 

And  this  sentiment  was  repeated  many 
times  after  dinner.  "  You  were  mistaken. 
You  said  a  lean,  gaunt  man  appeared, — a 
regular  red  Indian.  Do  you  know  what 
Marie  de  Renier  says'? — he  is  a  prince." 
Which  proves  that,  like  most  nervous  men, 
General  Jackson  could  change  his  demeanor 
under  the  spur  of  excitement. 

But  just  then  Mademoiselle  was  looking 
over  her  former  conquest  with  a  deal  of 
attention,  wondering,  perhaps,  if  he  would 
show  any  of  the  old  symptoms  of  absorption 
in  her  entertaining  self. 

"  You  are  thinner  than  you  were,"  she  an 
nounced  at  last. 


164  CHALMETTE 

After  a  moment  she  added, — 

"  I  had  your  news  from  Raoul, — of  whom 
you  met  at  Barataria." 

"  The  English  lieutenant.  You  should 
hate  'em  all,"  he  retorted. 

"  Who  says  that  I  don't  ?"  she  said,  with  a 
nervous  little  laugh.  "  Ah,  there  is  Louis 
Ronald.  He  has  a  company  of  his  own.  I 
saw  him  the  other  day,  near  Madame  De 
marche's,  riding  with  a  yellow-haired  girl — 
very  pretty,  indeed — in  black.  He  lied  to 
me  about  Mr.  Beaumont's  engagement.  I 
don't  like  him." 

Robe  looked  across  at  the  man,  who  ap 
parently  had  done  him  so  small  injury,  and 
yet  whom  he  disliked  so  much.  Would  this 
fellow  again  act  the  tale-bearer  *?  Would  he 
carry  news  to  Madame  Demarche's  guest 
that  he  had  seen  him  talking  with  the  pretty 
De  Renier?  Raoul  came  across  the  room 
to  him,  and  he  left  Mademoiselle  with  a  stiff 
bow  across  the  room  to  Ronald.  He  forgot 
his  surroundings.  Was  it  not  quite  possible 
that  the  astute  Lafitte  intended  to  marry  her 
to  this  powerful  man,  who  stood  for  all  that 


CHALMETTE  165 

riches  and  position  signified  in  New  Orleans, 
for  the  power  that  Lafitte  courted  *? 

The  next  day  the  favor  the  general's  sec 
ond  and  third  appearances  had  made  and  his 
bold  words  of  perfect  self-confidence  had  in 
deed  reached  through  New  Orleans.  The  city 
believed  him  with  a  great  belief.  French 
and  Spanish  joined  in  the  zeal  for  the  de 
fence.  Though  the  French  had  small  liking 
for  the  American,  they  had  a  great  dislike  for 
England,  and,  if  the  Spanish  were  more  luke 
warm,  they,  too,  were  carried  away  by  the 
contagious  enthusiasm.  Governor  Claiborne 
had  freed  the  prisoners  in  the  calaboose,  as 
has  been  said,  many  of  whom  were  Lafitte's 
Baratarians.  The  captains,  Dominique  You 
and  Belouche,  were  openly  on  the  streets,  as 
they  had  been,  indeed,  before  Lafitte's  inter 
view  with  General  Jackson.  Lafitte  himself 
was  not  to  be  found.  It  was  said  that  he 
had  gone  to  look  up  other  of  his  Baratarians, 
who  had  been  in  hiding  since  the  destruction 
of  their  retreat  about  Grand  Terre.  Robe 
had  sought  him  out  to  make  some  further 
inquiries  about  Miss  Maurice,  but  he  failed 


i66  CHALMETTE 

to  see  him.  When  he  called  at  the  Ursu- 
lines  for  Sister  Madeleine  he  found  that  she, 
too,  was  somewhere  in  the  country, — they 
did  not  know  exactly  where.  Yes,  she  had 
been  at  Madame  Demarche's  with  her  niece. 
And  Robe,  a  very  busy  man  in  those  days, 
went  back  to  his  duties.  He  saw  the  stern- 
faced  Cafferty,  who  gave  him  more  in  partic 
ular  the  story  of  the  desolation  of  Grand 
Terre,  made  now  "  a  wilderness  of  wind 
swept  grasses  and  sinewy  reeds,  waving  away 
from  a  thin  beach,  ever  speckled  with  drift 
and  decaying  things,  worm-riddled  timbers 
and  dead  porpoises."  * 

And  how  may  Robe  describe  the  anima 
tion  of  the  city "?  There  were  the  blacks  as 
well  as  the  whites,  companies  of  free  men  of 
color  and  of  the  black  refugees  from  San 
Domingo  who  had  stood  by  their  white  mas 
ters  in  the  uprising  there.  There  were  the 
trim,  constantly  parading  creole  gentlemen, 
contrasted  with  the  rough  fellows  making 


*  Vide  Lafcadio  Hearn.      I  have  added  it  to  my  grandfather's 
description. — CORNELIA  ROBE  FENWOLD. 


CHALMETTE  167 

General  Coffee's  famous  "  dirty  shirts."  There 
were  Hinds's  fine  cavalrymen.  There  were 
the  United  States  regulars,  such  as  they  were 
in  1814.  There  were  the  veterans  of  other 
days,  formed  into  a  home-guard.  And  we 
must  not  omit  the  Baratarians,  with  their  red 
shirts  and  turbans  and  bold  eyes,  the  admira 
tion  of  all.  The  very  servants,  even  Robe's 
Simon  Wesley,  burnished  their  masters'  arms 
zealously,  feeling  they,  too,  were  of  the  affair. 
And  on  the  fortifications  the  slaves  worked 
and  sang,  and  held  themselves  quite  impor 
tant  parts  of  the  defence. 

Yes,  New  Orleans  took  the  occasion  with 
Gallic  ardor  ;  nor  must  Kit  omit  the  women, 
from  ladies  to  servants,  with  snapping  black 
eyes,  who  watched  it  all ;  the  gay  gossip,  the 
tattle  and  flirtation  of  drawing-room  and 
street.  But  there  was  one  face  that  he  didn't 
see  at  all ;  and  he  wondered  about  her,  with 
a  certain  dull  pain  at  his  heart.  When  he 
saw  his  aversion,  Ronald,  he  felt  that  same 
resentment.  For  he  doubted  not  that  he  was 
often  at  the  Demarche  plantation,  whence 
Kit's  present  duties  kept  him. 


i68  CHALMETTE 

Now,  one  day — Kit  believes  it  was  the 
tenth — a  messenger  brought  the  news  that  as 
far  as  the  glass  could  carry,  in  the  water  be 
tween  Chandeleur  and  Cat  Islands,  were  sails 
and  sails.  And  what  sails,  indeed  !  The 
French  Tonnant,  captured  in  the  Nile ;  the 
Royal  Oak  ;  the  Ramillies  ;  the  Norge  ;  the 
Bedford  ;  the  Asia  ;  the  Armida, — fifty  sails, 
with  a  thousand  guns  ;  sailors  who  had  car 
ried  Great  Britain's  flag  triumphant  in  many 
and  many  a  fight  against  the  strongest  foes  in 
the  world.  And  those  vessels  brought  veter 
ans  of  the  Peninsula, — men  who  had  burned 
Washington  and  ravaged  Kit's  own  country 
side.  The  messenger's  report — soon  enlarged 
from  many  sources — went  on :  Admiral 
Cochrane  had  already  sent  launches,  with 
carronades  and  manned  by  a  thousand  men, 
sailors  and  soldiers,  to  drive  the  American 
flag  from  the  lakes.  And  these  were  to  be 
met  by  Lieutenant  Catesby  Jones's  six  gun 
boats  and  thirty-five  guns  !  Perhaps  they 
were  fighting  down  there  now. 

The  mercurial  creole  continued,  dilating 
on  the  situation.  What  have  we  against  such 


CHALMETTE  169 

an  armament  ?  An  army  that  didn't  have 
many  uniforms  among  them, — the  creole 
fancy  was  serious  over  this  matter  of  uni 
forms  ;  Fort  Philip,  down  the  river,  badly  kept 
up  ;  back  of  us  the  Spanish  Fort, — pretty,  to 
be  sure,  but  what  else  ?  a  few  batteries  more  ; 
the  mud  fort  of  Petites  Coquilles.  But  Gen 
eral  Jackson  held  his  peace  and  said  nothing ; 
he  had  declared  the  city  should  not  be  taken  ; 
that  was  sufficient.  Yet,  you  who  know  the 
present  temper  of  New  Orleans,  imagine  the 
chatter  then,  the  lifting  eyebrows,  the  brisk 
gesticulations. 

Imagine  Captain  Robe  meeting  Mademoi 
selle  de  Renier  of  an  afternoon,  and  Madem 
oiselle  whipping  a  little  silver  dagger  from 
her  bodice. 

"  What  does  that  mean  *?"  he  asked. 

"  I  hear  they  have  a  toast,"  said  the  young 
lady,  "  '  booty  and  beauty.'  If  they  get  here 

"  Mademoiselle  ended  by  brandishing 

her  dagger.  "  I  am  not  the  only  woman  in 
New  Orleans  so  equipped." 

"  What  if  it  should  be  our  friend,  Mr. 
Beaumont?" 


iyo  CHALMETTE 

"I  hate  him,"  Mademoiselle  cried.  "I 
should  rather  love  you,"  she  added,  with  a 
blow  from  her  eyes  that  made  our  captain 
the  least  embarrassed.  Did  she  after  all 
seriously  remember  his  sentimental  ap 
proaches  ?  While  he  jested,  he  was  troubled ; 
and  he  heard  Mademoiselle's  light  laughter 
behind  him.  What  a  vain  creature  is  man ; 
and  how  well  the  women  know  it ! 

As  Kit  pushed  through  the  bustling  street 
to  his  quarters,  a  hand  suddenly  caught  his 
shoulder. 

"  Pardon,  captain,"  said  a  familiar  voice  ; 
and  turning,  he  saw  his  Baratarian  acquaint 
ance,  La  Roux. 

"  This  is  for  you,  captain." 

And  he  read : 

"  Take  ten  men,  and  have  bearer  lead  you  to  Jean 
Lafitte,  whose  orders  you  are  to  obey, — using  your 
discretion.  "JACKSON." 

"  Where  shall  I  find  you  ?"  Robe  asked, 
turning. 

"  I  will  follow  you,  captain.  I  will  take 
you  and  your  men  to  Mr.  Lantte's  barges 
below  the  city." 


CHAPTER   XIII 

AT  MADAME  DEMARCHE'S 

THE  two  barges  were  close  together.  La- 
fitte's  whiskered  men  bent  low  to  their  oars ; 
Robe's  followers,  for  the  most  part  Tennes- 
seeans,  talking,  and  those  who  were  not  oars 
men  nervously  fingering  their  rifles  ;  the  low 
banks  receding ;  the  outlines  of  a  gunboat 
of  Commodore  Patterson  close  under  the 
opposite  shore. 

Lafitte  was  quiet  and  reserved,  with  now 
and  then  some  word  to  La  Roux.  Robe 
had  followed  the  general's  orders  literally, 
and  now  he  had  asked  no  question  of  the 
calm,  handsome,  self-poised  man,  who,  crimi 
nal  or  no,  commanded  respect  for  his  extra 
ordinary  ability,  particularly  in  the  way  he 
avoided  consequences.  Perhaps  Lafitte  read 
his  thoughts,  for  he  turned  to  him  suddenly 
with  that  affable  smile  which  recalled  to 

Robe  the  visit  to  Grand  Terre. 

171 


172  CHALMETTE 

"  You  know  General  Coffee  ?  Yes,  of 
course.  At  a  reception  he  hesitated,  but  I 
went  up  to  him, — '  The  pirate  Lafitte,'  I  an 
nounced  myself." 

"  He  is  a  good  commander  for  the  men  he 
has,  this  General  Coffee,"  said  Robe. 

"  So  I  wanted  him  to  understand  that  I 
was  conscious  of  my  position,"  Lafitte  said. 
"  I  never  enjoyed  patronage." 

"  You  seem  plainly  enough  in  our  service 
now,"  Robe  answered. 

"  Well,  possibly.  They — my  enemies — 
say  I  am  profiting  by  the  condition  of  things. 
I  may  be,  Captain  Robe." 

And  then  he  turned  to  give  a  direction  in 
Spanish  ;  he  had  a  half-dozen  languages  at 
his  tongue's  end. 

"  Lieutenant  Jones  fought  the  enemy  last 
night.  It  was  musket  to  musket,  cutlass  to 
cutlass,  and  hand  to  hand.  Jones  cut  into 
the  open  barges,  sinking  many.  They  say 
the  waters  were  filled  with  red-coated  men. 
But  it  ended " 

"  They  were  driven  back  *?"  Robe  asked. 
"  This  news  must  just  have  reached  the  city." 


CHALMETTE  173 

"  La  Roux  brought  it  to  me, — to  the  gen 
eral.  They  closed  in  on  them,  beating  our 
crews  back,  and  driving  them  below.  By 
noon,  captain,  they  held  Lake  Borgne.  Is  it 
an  omen  of  the  result  ?  There  are  those 
who  consider  it  may  be." 

For  a  moment  Robe  felt  a  suspicion  of 
this  ally.  What  if  he  should  turn  against 
them  now  ?  What  if,  after  all,  he  had  ac 
cepted  the  British  overtures  ?  What  if,  when 
it  came  to  battle,  the  Baratarians  should  be 
foes  in  their  midst  ?  But  Lafitte's  keen  eyes 
were  on  the  Virginian's  face,  and  he  read  his 
thoughts  as  easily  as  if  he  had  spoken  so 
many  words. 

"  If  it  be  so,  that  I  am  playing  false, 
you  will  allow  that  I  do  it  well,"  Lantte 
said. 

"  I  said  nothing  on  that  subject,"  said 
Robe,  starting. 

"  I  am  not  a  child  at  understanding  a 
man's  thoughts,  Captain  Robe.  And  per 
haps  the  best  answer  I  may  make  is  that  I 
am  here — you  are  here — to  intercept  that 
very  business  you  think  of.  The  English  are 


174  CHALMETTE 

at  the  Isle  des  Pois,  where  they  suffer  from 
the  dews  by  day,  the  frosts  by  night, — where 
they  are  looking  to  the  approaches  to  the 
city.  They  are  deliberating  on  several  plans 
proposed  them." 

"  Proposed  them, — through  spies  *?" 

"  The  Spanish  fishermen  and  certain  per 
sons  in  the  Spanish  or  English  interest.  La 
Roux,  from  sources  we  know  of,  has  brought 
news  that  an  English  officer,  disguised  as  a 
fisherman,  is  to  meet  a  certain  gentleman  we 
know  of  at  Madame  Demarche's." 

"I  know  of?— Ronald?"  Robe  asked, 
showing  his  own  first  surmise. 

"  No  other ;  I  trusted  him.  You  dis 
like  him,"  said  Lafitte,  watching  him. 
"  You  have  surmised  it.  Instinct  isn't  a 
bad  guide  at  times.  But  I  own  I  trusted 
him." 

"  Yet  I  thought  there  was  not  a  creole 
traitor  in  Louisiana,"  the  other  said. 

"  He  is  partly  an  Englishman.  He  hon 
estly  believes  that  Louisiana  would  be  better 
under  English  rule.  He  was  disappointed 
that  I  refused  the  advances  made  to  me. 


CHALMETTE  175 

Naturally  a  monarchist,  he  prefers  England 
or  Spain.  He  is  sincere  enough." 

"  He  was  interested  in  Barataria." 

"  Barataria,  as  Barataria,  has  ceased  to  exist. 
It  is  a  matter  now  of  the  United  States.  I 
will  confess  that  we — Dominique  You,  Be- 
louche,  and  I — are  fighting  for  social  recog 
nition.  And  we  will  have  it.  But  we  prefer 
it  from  the  United  States." 

"  Yet  they  burned  your  quarters,  after  the 
governor's  acceptance  of  your  offer,  though 
the  governor  couldn't  have  prevented  it." 

"  Don't  you  see,  man,"  Lafitte  said,  frankly, 
"  that  it  appears  better  for  us  to  gain  the  rec 
ognition  of  a  country  which  we  know  can't 
be  conquered,  which  is  nearest  the  opera 
tions  on  the  Gulf?" 

"  That  is  the  business  proposition,  broadly 
put,"  Robe  agreed.  "  I  agree  with  you  that 
England  can't  make  us  colonies  again.  But 
as  for  this  Ronald, — he  is  at  Madame  De 
marche's  *?" 

"  Madame  is  his  second  cousin." 

"  And  she  knows  of  this  ?" 

"  Certainly  not ;  but  Ronald  chose  it  as  a 


176  CHALMETTE 

quiet  place,  where  he  easily  could  meet  the 
British  agent.  There  are  many  winding 
water-ways  leading  there  from  the  mouth  of 
the  Pearl  River.  I  am  going  there  osten 
sibly  to  escort  Madame  to  New  Orleans.  She 
says  her  neighbors,  the  Valleres,  are  not 
afraid.  Why  should  she  be  ?  We  will 
keep  your  men  in  reserve.  We  will  reach 
the  house  by  a  way.  I  will  inquire  about 
Ronald.  The  British  spies  should  be  here 
this  afternoon." 

"  Your  ward,  Miss  Maurice,  is  there  ?" 
"  She  insists  that  she  should  be  here, 
though  Mr.  Maurice  has  twice  sent  for  her 
to  return  to  Virginia.  He  is  her  legal  guar 
dian.  I  am  only  an  executor  under  Captain 
de  Bertrand's  will." 

Lafitte  watched  Robe's  face  as  he  spoke  of 
her.  He  did  not  deny  that  he  had  hoped  to 
have  her  marry  Ronald  ;  he  had  not  expected 
that  Ronald  had  gone  to  the  extreme  of  plot 
ting  that  La  Roux's  advices  indicated.  His 
object  in  coming  there  was  to  get  Ronald  and 
the  disguised  officers  from  Admiral  Cochrane, 
together  with  the  Spanish  fishermen  who 


CHALMETTE  177 

escorted  them.  His  Baratarians  were  to  beat 
about,  with  their  useful  knowledge  of  land 
and  water,  while  he  and  Robe  were  to  go 
openly  to  the  house. 

They  carried  this  plan  out  in  every  detail, 
leaving  the  one  barge  with  La  Roux's  half, 
of  the  Baratarians  and  Robe's  men  in  a  hid 
den  spot,  while  the  other  went  on  much 
farther  up  the  river,  coming  at  last  to  rest 
under  a  thick  hedge  of  yucca.  Robe  fol 
lowed  Lafitte  to  an  out-building,  where  he 
gave  a  peculiar  low  whistle  that  did  not 
penetrate  far ;  but  suddenly,  from  the  corner 
of  the  house,  a  bent,  white-haired  and  bearded 
negro  appeared. 

"Eh,  M'sieur  Lafitte,"  he  cried,  in  that 
patois  which  Robe  cannot  attempt  to  render, 
though  by  this  time  he  understood  it  fairly 
well.  "  Were  the  officers  after  M'sieur 
again  ?" 

"  Tell  Henriette  to  let  Madame  know  that 
Monsieur  wishes  to  see  Madame  in  the  old 
way.  Stay,  is  Monsieur  Ronald  about  ?" 

Gabriel  thought  that  Monsieur  Ronald 
was  walking  somewhere  with  Mademioselle 


178  CHALMETTE 

Maurice ;  and  nodding  his  head  wisely,  he 
turned  away.  Presently  he  returned,  beckon 
ing.  They  were  shielded  from  observation 
along  the  little  path  by  the  thick,  bare 
branches  of  a  hedge,  and  at  a  door  Henriette, 
the  mulatto  girl  of  Robe's  former  visit, 
awaited  them.  Henriette  carefully  had  sent 
away  the  other  servants.  Gabriel,  who  was ' 
Henriette's  father,  guarded  the  farther  end  of 
the  path.  The  girl  broke  into  little  exclama 
tions  of  pleasure  at  seeing  Monsieur  Lafitte. 

"Had  the  governor  turned  against  Monsieur 
once  more  ?"  she  asked,  with  the  easy  famili 
arity  of  a  servant  born  to  the  household. 

As  she  was  speaking,  Sallie  Maurice  rushed 
out,  putting  both  her  hands  out  to  Lafitte. 

"  We  are  so  glad  to  see  you." 

And  then  she  noticed  Robe,  and  turned  to 
him  rather  coldly,  he  fancied. 

"  And  you  are  here,  Captain  Robe *?" 

"  I  notice  you  have  not  returned  to  Vir 
ginia,"  he  said,  lamely. 

"  After  the  affair  at  Barataria  my  aunt  felt 
it  her  duty  to  look  after  some  who  were  hurt. 
They  were  men,  though  bad  men,  perhaps ; 


CHALMETTE  179 

they  had  been  my  grandfather's  people.  I 
helped  in  what  I  could." 

"  They  are  free  from  the  calaboose, 
Mademoiselle.  They  are  soldiers  of  the 
United  States." 

Miss  Maurice  flushed,  and  she  looked  at 
Robe. 

"  They  are  pardoned  *?"  she  said. 

"  They  are  taken  into  the  service,"  Robe 
answered,  feeling  her  coldness.  They  had 
entered  the  room,  Robe  remembered,  where 
Mrs.  Claiborne  and  Lantte  had  that  play  of 
wit  and  compliments.  Perhaps  Lantte,  too, 
remembered  it,  for  he  smiled. 

"  And  Monsieur  Ronald,  my  dear  Madem 
oiselle  Sallie  *?  We  heard  he  was  sauntering 
with  you." 

"  He  will  saunter  no  more  with  me,  Mon 
sieur,  despite  your  wish." 

"  My  wish  may  have  changed,"  Lafitte 
said,  with  a  meaning  glance  towards  Robe. 
"  Ah,  Madame." 

For  Madame  Demarche  had  entered,  fresh 
and  smiling. 

"  How  you  bring  old  New  Orleans  days 


i8o  CHALMETTE 

to  me,  Madame,"  Lafitte  said ;  "  evenings  on 
balconies,  gossip,  dances " 

"  Flirtation,"  said  Madame.  "  Ah,  yes, 
flirtation,  and  the  subscription  balls,  to  whom 
none  was  a  more  liberal  subscriber  than 
Monsieur  Jean  Lafitte,"  she  added. 

"  Those  days  are  gone,  but  in  the  period 
of  my  outlawry  no  one  was  kinder  than  a 
certain  widow,  whose  husband  had  helped 
me  much.  She  remembered,  and  now  I 
am  here  insistent  on  your  returning  to 
New  Orleans.  The  British  will  be  here. 
You  at  Villere's  and  Demarche's  and  Chal- 
mette's  must  leave  for  New  Orleans, — you 
yourself,  now,  on  my  barge,  which  awaits 
you." 

"  We  can't." 

"  I  insist,"  he  said. 

"And  when  Lafitte  insists,"  Madame  re 
torted,  "  you  obey.  It's  a  proverb."  And 
she  courtesied,  mockingly. 

Lafitte  whispered  something.  She  grew 
suddenly  pale. 

"  It  can't  be  so." 

"  I  know." 


CHALMETTE  181 

"  Well,  if  you  know."  And  she  started. 
"  We  will  obey  Monsieur,  Mademoiselle. 
We  will  put  a  few  things  together,  and  leave 
Henriette  to  follow  with  more.  We  go  to 
the  city  at  once.  You  will  excuse  us." 

Sallie  Maurice  had  been  standing  near 
Robe,  but  neither  saying  a  word.  For  some 
reason  his  speech  seemed  to  have  deserted 
him.  Now  she  bowed  and  followed  Madame. 

"  You  told  her  of  Ronald  *?"  he  asked. 

"  I  told  her  I  believed  there  were  English 
spies  on  her  ground.  I  told  her  she  must 
obey  me." 

"  She  believed  you  ?" 

"  She  never  has  had  reason  to  doubt  me," 
he  said. 

At  the  moment  Madame  and  Miss  Maurice 
entered,  followed  by  Henriette  with  some 
luggage. 

"  You  want  everything  to  remain  the 
same?"  Madame  said. 

"  Yes,  no  apparent  change.  I  will  receive 
him  when  he  returns,"  Lafitte  replied.  "  It's 
at  the  old  landing,  by  the  back  path  ?" 

"  Yes,"  said  Madame, "  I  leave  the  situation 


182  CHALMETTE 

to  you.  Au  revoir,  Monsieur  Robe,"  and  she 
gave  Robe  her  hand. 

"  I  dare  say,"  Sallie  said,  "  I  may  see  you 
in  New  Orleans." 

"  You  don't  appear  to  wish  to  see  me,"  he 
said. 

But  she  ignored  his  remark  ;  only  extended 
her  hand,  and  left  them  with  yet  a  dash  of 
red  on  her  cheeks. 

"  Why  do  we  remain  *?"  Robe  asked,  turn 
ing  to  Lafitte. 

"  You  will  see  presently." 

At  the  moment  there  was  a  tapping  on 
the  door. 

"  La  Roux." 

"Yes,  captain,"  said  La  Roux,  enter 
ing. 

"  You  saw  it  all  ?" 

"  Yes." 

"  How  many  were  there  ?" 

"  Seven.  Two  were  Englishmen  gotten 
up  like  the  others." 

"You  watched  till  after  he  had  left 
them  ?" 

"  Yes,  captain.     Then,  before  they  knew 


CHALMETTE  183 

it,  we  were  down  on  them.  There  wasn't  a 
cry." 

"  So  they  are  safe  in  that  glade  ?" 

"  Yes,  certainly." 

"  And  he  should  be  here  ?" 

"  In  five  minutes." 

"  Madame  will  be  embarked  by  that  time. 
Do  you,  La  Roux,  take  the  other  barge  to  the 
place  where  the  prisoners  are." 

La  Roux  nodded  and  went  out,  eager, 
nervous,  alert.  Has  Robe  recorded  that  he 
was  the  only  one  of  the  Baratarians,  save  Jean 
Lafitte  himself,  who  did  not  wear  a  beard ; 
that  he  had  a  certain  urbane,  well-bred  air, 
such  as  the  Lafittes  and  Dominique  You 
possessed  in  so  remarkable  a  degree  ? 


CHAPTER    XIV 

LAFITTE  AND   THE   TRAITOR 

IT  must  have  been,  to  show  La  Roux's 
accuracy,  exactly  five  minutes  after  when 
Ronald,  softly  humming  to  himself,  entered 
the  house  and  turned  towards  the  room 
where  he  doubtless  expected  to  find  his 
hostess  or  Miss  Maurice.  La  Roux  had 
anticipated  him  by  taking  a  roundabout 
way,  and  he  had  walked  slowly  with  his 
thoughts,  little  thinking  that  the  two  English 
officers  whom  he  had  just  left  were  prisoners. 
As  he  entered,  he  stopped  in  amazement, 
looking  from  Lafitte  to  Robe. 

"Oh,  Monsieur  Lafitte,  this  is  the  usual 
pleasure,"  he  said.  "You  are  always  ap 
pearing, — disappearing  again.  You,  too,  are 
paying  a  visit  to  our  old  friend,  Madame 
Demarche." 

"  No,  and  yes.     I  came  to  have  Madame 
184 


CHALMETTE  185 

go  to  the  city.  I  have  persuaded  her.  She 
has  started  by  this  time,  I  believe." 

"  Isn't  this  rather  sudden  ?" 

"  I  have  reason  to  believe  that  some  of 
Admiral  Cochrane's  men  may  be  here." 

"  What !"  Ronald  said,  without  moving  a 
muscle, — "  you  believe  that  they  know  the 
water-ways  ?  It  may  be, — through  the  fisher 
men." 

"  Yes,  and  there  are  others  as  well.  I  in 
tend  to  have  the  general  send  down  a  con 
siderable  force  to  watch  the  bayou  and  canal 
leading  to  this  place." 

"  Have  you  any  information  *?" 

"  Some,  some,"  Lafitte  went  on,  like  a  cat 
playing  with  a  mouse.  "  I  didn't  fully  real 
ize  the  danger  till  I  was  here  myself.  I 
could  not  believe  my  plain  information  that 
there  was  a  Louisianian  who  might  make  an 
exact  statement  of  the  number  of  our  forces, 
of  the  condition  ot  the  defences." 

"  Monsieur  !"  Ronald  said,  paling. 

La  Roux  appeared. 

"  I  have  some  papers,  captain,"  he  said. 

"  Bring  them  here." 


i86  CHALMETTE 

Lafitte  unfolded  them. 

"  Back,  La  Roux,"  he  said.  "  Ah,  a  map 
of  every  water-way  about  here, — an  accurate 
map.  Yes,  and  plans  of  the  forts,  such  as 
they  are." 

Ronald  looked  from  Lafitte  to  Robe,  and 
then  to  La  Roux.  You  could  see  that  he 
understood  the  situation,  and  was  considering 
his  position.  La  Roux,  though  he  had  been 
told  to  return  to  his  men,  still  hesitated. 

"  I  have  to  report  that  one  fellow  ran. 
We  couldn't  get  a  fair  shot  at  him.  He 
jumped  into  the  bayou  and  reached  the 
bushes.  We  tried  to  follow  him,  but  were 
caught  in  the  marsh.  He  must  have  been 
swallowed  up." 

"  Go,  I  tell  you,"  Lafitte  said,  sternly. 
"  Wait  me  there.  I  have  an  interview  with 
Monsieur." 

As  La  Roux  went  out,  he  said,  as  if 
meditating  the  force  of  every  word  : 

"  Monsieur  Ronald,  I  rarely  have  been 
deceived  in  men.5' 

"  No,  rarely,"  sneered  the  other ;  "  that  has 


CHALMETTE  187 

been  the  measure  of  your  success,  Mon 
sieur." 

"  Yes,"  said  Lafitte,  slowly,  "  that  may  be. 
I  even  acknowledge  it.  But  there's  another 
matter.  Monsieur,  you  owe  some  part  of 
your  income  to  our  organization." 

"  Yes,"  said  Ronald,  looking  at  him  with 
out  a  tremor  in  his  voice.  "  Yes,  Monsieur 
Lafitte." 

"  You  have  said  *  yes,' "  Lafitte  said. 
"  May  I  add  to  my  '  yes'  that  once  I  had 
occasion  to  shoot  a  man  down, — nay,  twice, 
— after  I  had  taken  the  management  of  the 
affairs  of  Barataria." 

He  looked  at  Ronald  for  a  moment  as  if 
critically.  Robe,  watching  the  two,  like  a 
spectator  at  a  play,  remembered  the  story  of 
Grambo,  the  pirate,  who,  when  Lafitte  was 
completing  his  organization  of  the  privateers 
and  buccaneers  of  the  Gulf,  resisted  the  chief, 
who  shot  and  killed  him  in  the  Great 
Temple,  the  place  of  their  trade.  And 
there  were  many  other  stories  of  like  kind 
of  this  man,  who  now  stood,  strong  and 
inflexible,  the  carelessness  of  his  mannerisms 


i88  CHALMETTE 

gone,  before  this  delinquent.  For  the  first 
time  Ronald  started  nervously,  and  his  hand 
went  involuntarily  to  his  belt.  Lafitte 
laughed  with  a  fine  scorn,  not  himself 
moving. 

"  Bring  out  your  pistol,  cocked  and 
primed.  I  dare  you  to  do  it.  For,  dead- 
shot  though  you  may  be,  I  don't  think  you 
can  be  quicker  than  I.  For  I  judge  you  a 
mutineer,  and  the  worst.  For  I  trusted  you, 
which  I  rarely  do.  There  is  some  fine 
quality  of  pretence  about  you  that  made 
me.  And  you  have  deceived  me.  I  sup 
posed  that  you  were  following  our  policy, — 
to  stand  with  the  United  States." 

"  A  mistaken  policy,"  said  the  other,  sul 
lenly.  "  You  entered  into  it  to  secure  your 
pardon,  but  what  if  England  succeeds"? — 
and  she  will,  I  know." 

"  And  Monsieur  Ronald's  service  will  be 
remembered,  and  Jean  Lafitte 's  refusal  will 
be  punished." 

Ronald  began  to  laugh,  contemptuously, 
bitterly. 

"  Fool,  this  is  another  matter, — Admiral 


CHALMETTE  189 

Cochrane  embarked  sixteen  hundred  men  in 
yesterday's  rain.  They  will  be  here  before 
you  know.  The  rest  will  follow.  How  can 
Jackson  resist  them  *?" 

"  And  I'll  be  confounded  with  this,"  said 
Lafitte,  slowly.  "  You  have  given  the  in 
formation  to  the  spy  of  the  numbers,  of  the 
plans  of  the  forts  and  the  works,  of  the  situ 
ation  of  the  forces." 

He  spoke  deliberately,  as  if  considering 
the  details  of  the  situation  carefully.  Then 
he  tore  into  bits  the  papers  La  Roux  had 
brought  from  the  English  prisoners, — the 
plans  Ronald  had  furnished  them. 

"  If  what  you  say  may  be  true,  at  least 
they  shall  not  have  those  papers,"  he  said. 

And  then  from  under  his  coat  he  pulled 
two  duelling  pistols. 

"  I  came  prepared  for  this  contingency," 
he  said. 

"  What  do  you  mean  *?"  Ronald  cried, 
while  the  single  spectator  watched  like  one 
fascinated. 

"  I  am  going  to  concede  you  the  right  of 
your  opinion, — the  right  of  a  gentleman, — if 


190  CHALMETTE 

as  insubordinate  to  Barataria  you  should  die. 
I  give  you  a  chance, — the  duel, — a  good 
chance,  Monsieur,  with  your  skill." 

"  I  will  not  fight  you,  Lafitte.  I  refuse  to 
fight  you." 

"  Then,  Monsieur,  I  must  be  simply  the 
traitor's  executioner.  I  will  shoot  you  down." 

For  two  moments  Ronald  deliberated. 
Perhaps  he  thought  of  springing  away 
through  the  door,  but  he  knew  that  Lafitte 
certainly  would  bring  him  down. 

"  Give  me  the  pistol,"  he  said  at  last,  look 
ing  up  grimly.  He  trusted  to  his  skill,  even 
against  Lafitte. 

Here  Robe  interrupted : 

"  This  is  an  impossible  situation,"  he  re 
monstrated.  "  We  have  Mr.  Ronald  here  as 
a  prisoner.  We  must  take  him  to  New 
Orleans  and  deliver  him  to  the  authorities." 

"  Monsieur,"  Lafitte  said,  turning  to  him 
with  a  gleam  of  anger,  "  you  will  please  to 
hold  your  tongue.  The  authorities  may 
have  a  quarrel  with  Monsieur  Ronald,  but  I 
have,  too,  my  private  one,  which  it  is  my 
privilege  to  settle." 


CHALMETTE  191 

"  I  grant  you  that  privilege,"  said  Ronald, 
calmly.  And  whatever  Robe's  dislike  of 
him, — his  firm  belief  that  he  had  been  mak 
ing  love  to  Sallie  Maurice, — he  still  had  to 
grant  him  the  quality  of  bravery,  of  admir 
able  sang-froid. 

"  You  are  to  witness  this  is  a  duel,"  said 
Lafitte. 

"  Yes,  you  are  the  witness,  Monsieur." 

And  Robe,  awed  by  something  in  both 
men's  manner, — and  himself  brought  up  to 
respect  the  code  d'honneur, — said, — 

"  If  you  both  wish  it,  I  can  but 
agree." 

And  then  suddenly  fear  seized  him.  What 
if  this  Ronald  should  kill  Lafitte?  How 
could  he  repeat  the  case  to  his  general1? 
And  he  felt  certain  that  in  that  case  he 
should  return  to  the  city  alone,  as  he  could 
not  protect  Ronald  from  the  vengeance  of 
the  Baratarians. 

"  Yet  I  believe  you  are  wrong,  Mr.  La 
fitte,"  he  added. 

"  That  is  my  matter ;  you  have  agreed. 
Stand  by  your  word,"  Lafitte  retorted. 


192  CHALMETTE 

"  It  is  here,  then, — in  this  room  ?"  Ronald 
asked. 

"  Yes,  here." 

"  I  don't  care  to  see  the  other  pistol.  I 
can  trust  you,  Monsieur  Lafitte." 

"  Thank  you,  Monsieur,"  Lafitte  said, 
ironically.  "  You  will  please  say,  calmly, 
'One,  two,  three,'  Captain  Robe.  On  the 
three,  Monsieur  Ronald." 

"  On  the  three,  Monsieur  Lafitte,"  Ronald 
assented. 

Robe  in  his  day  has  witnessed  some  duels  ; 
and  he  is  glad  to  notice  that  the  practice  in 
these  later  years  is  going  out  of  repute,  even 
in  the  South.  He  has  heard  many  duelling 
stories,  from  that  of  Sheridan's  by  candle 
light  in  the  London  tavern  to  the  one  be 
tween  Mr.  Hamilton  and  Mr.  Burr,  which 
excited  so  much  feeling.  He  has  had  sev 
eral  friends  killed  on  the  field,  among  others 
the  brave  Captain  Decatur.  But  in  his  own 
experience,  or  in  any  of  these  stories,  there 
surely  was  never  anything  more  impressive 
than  this  duel  between  Lafitte  and  Ronald, 
in  a  room  which  he  associated  with  women's 


CHALMETTE  193 

light  talk, — where  the  laughter  of  Mrs.  Clai- 
borne  and  Madame  Demarche  and  the 
presence  of  Sallie  Maurice  still  seemed  to 
linger. 

"  One,"  he  said,  fearfully ;  "  two,"  after  the 
pause. 

The  pistols  were  levelled  and  the  two  men 
looked  straight  into  each  other's  eyes, — 
"  three." 

The  flash  came ;  Ronald  tottered :  the 
report  rang ;  Ronald's  arms  flew  out,  with  a 
rush  of  blood  from  his  mouth,  and  he  fell  in 
a  heap. 

"  I  have  done  my  duty,"  Lafitte  said, 
grimly,  putting  his  smoking  pistol  on  the 
table. 

At  the  moment  a  red  uniform  was  pro 
jected  into  the  doorway,  with  a  crowd  of 
others  behind. 

"  You  are  prisoners,"  came  a  stout  English 
voice.  "  The  house  is  surrounded.  What's 
this? — a  murder?"  he  added,  in  some  dis 
may. 

"  He  brought  you  here,"  said  Lafitte,  turn 
ing  calmly  to  the  officer.  '*  The  informer, 
13 


194  CHALMETTE 

sir,  has  been  executed,  but  he  had  a  chance 
of  his  life.  It  was  a  duel." 

"  He  cannot  answer,"  said  the  lieutenant, 
leaning  over  the  prostrate  Ronald ;  "  he  is 
dead." 

Robe's  eyes  followed  Lafitte's  to  the  little 
fragments  of  paper  on  the  floor ;  the  informer 
was  dead ;  the  maps  and  details  he  had  fur 
nished  were  destroyed.  Lafitte  stepped  over 
to  him  and  whispered :  "  If  they  had  taken 
La  Roux,  we  should  have  heard  firing.  La 
Roux  has  gotten  away,  or  is  in  hiding  with 
the  spies  and  their  crew." 

Robe  never  saw  this  strange  man  so  excel 
lent  as  in  this  expression  of  his  belief  that  he 
had  outmanoeuvred  the  man  he  had  killed. 
He,  too,  seemed  to  have  no  regret  for  his 
deed. 

"  No  more  words,"  said  the  officer,  harshly. 
"  Seize  them,  sergeant." 

Four  scarlet-coated  men  walked  over  to 
the  prisoners,  as  a  grim-featured  sergeant 
directed. 

"We  have  these  two,  Mr.  Berden,"  said 
the  sergeant.  "  But  that  major  over  there 


CHALMETTE  195 

and  the  other  man  *  jumped  out  of  the  win 
dow  and  reached  the  woods." 

Then  the  prisoners  knew  that  the  Villere 
as  well  as  the  Demarche  house  had  been  sur 
rounded,  that  the  family  there  had  been 
taken,  but  that  Major  Villere  and  another 
person  had  made  a  bold  dash  for  liberty, — 
for  the  chance  to  warn  the  city,  which  was 
but  eight  miles  away.  Lafitte's  usually  non 
committal  face  betrayed  a  smile  of  some 
self-satisfaction. 

"  Take  the  prisoners  to  the  general,"  the 
lieutenant  said,  brusquely,  "and  I'll  finish 
the  search  of  the  premises  and  look  at  the 
dead  man." 

"  It  was  a  duel,"  said  Robe  here.  "  I  am 
the  witness." 

"  That's  to  be  decided,"  the  lieutenant 
answered ;  and  then,  noting  the  quality  of 
his  prisoners,  he  added,  "  You'll  state  the 
circumstances  to  General  Keane,  who  doubt 
less  will  wish  to  put  some  questions  to  you." 


*  fide   a  short    story  of  the  author's   in    Tomb's  Comfaniont 
11  How  New  Orleans  was  Saved." 


196  CHALMETTE 

As  they  were  brought  outside,  Robe  re 
flected  again  that  while  the  secret  information 
obtained  from  the  Spanish  fishermen  or  others, 
— perhaps  from  the  dead  Ronald, — had 
brought  the  enemy  so  near  the  city,  they 
at  least  did  not  seem  to  have  La  Roux.  Yet 
he  remembered  that  even  in  the  excitement 
of  the  last  moment  of  the  duel  he  had  heard 
some  rapid  shots.  Lafitte  himself  had  been 
oblivious  to  the  sounds.  Then  La  Roux, 
after  all,  might  be  taken.  Yet,  remembering 
that  Major  Villere  and  some  one  else,  from 
the  sergeant's  word  to  his  superior,  had  made 
a  bold  dash  for  freedom,  there  was  the  chance 
that  the  shots  might  be  from  their  pursuers. 
And  even  if  La  Roux  and  his  men  were 
taken,  their  two  English  prisoners  and  their 
Spanish  fishermen  crew  could  not  produce 
the  plans  which  Lafitte  through  sagacious 
foresight  had  destroyed.  It  was  evident,  now, 
that  the  spies  had  been  sent  ahead  to  confer 
with  Ronald,  who  doubtless  wished  to  return 
unobserved  to  New  Orleans,  to  continue  his 
supply  of  information. 

These  thoughts,  which  can  be  put  here 


CHALMETTE  197 

better  to  explain  the  situation,  ran  through 
Robe's  mind  almost  in  the  few  seconds  be 
fore  they  reached  the  lawn  outside  the  house. 
And  all  the  fields, — back  to  the  orange 
groves, — seemed  to  be  dotted  with  red-coated 
men,  who  were  moving  along  the  road  on 
the  levee  to  the  upper  side  of  the  plantation, 
where  they  seemed  to  be  forming,  as  it  proved 
afterwards,  in  three  columns.  And  as  the 
two  prisoners  were  brought  into  the  grounds 
immediately  about  the  Villere  manor  a  small 
battery  was  being  thrown  up.  Here,  as  at 
Madame  Demarche's,  were  frightened,  chat 
tering  crowds  of  blacks  under  guard. 

The  surprise  of  both  plantations  had  been 
the  most  decided  possible ;  and  the  invaders 
seemed  to  be  making  the  most  of  their  few 
moments'  occupancy.  Robe's  heart  sank. 
They  certainly  would  push  on  to  the  unpre 
pared  city.  This  doubtless  was  the  van,  now 
waiting  for  the  main  body. 

The  day,  as  the  histories  state  and  Robe 
remembers,  was  December  23,  1814. 


CHAPTER   XV 

THE   ESCAPE 

THEY  were  brought  into  a  room  where  a 
stout,  white-haired  man,  in  plain  clothes, 
was  consulting  with  a  taller,  black-bearded, 
uniformed  young  man.  The  former  was 
Sir  Alexander  Cochrane ;  the  latter,  General 
Keane. 

The  sergeant  briefly  stated  the  circum 
stances  under  which  the  prisoners  had  been 
taken. 

"  A  murder  *?"  General  Keane  asked. 

"  No,  sir,"  Lafitte  interrupted, — "  a  duel. 
The  man  was  a  Louisianian  proprietor  who 
was  a  spy  in  our  midst." 

"  I  dare  say  you  call  every  man  a  spy  who 
is  dissatisfied  with  Yankee  misgovernment," 
the  admiral  remarked.  "  This  will  be  looked 
into." 

"  You  may  know  his  name,"  Lafitte  said, — 

"  one  Ronald." 
198 


CHALMETTE  199 

"  He  !"  General  Keane  exclaimed. 

"  As  I  thought, — as  I  knew, — having  other 
certain  proofs,"  Lafitte  said.  "  You  may 
like  to  know,  too,  that  I,  who  killed  this 
fellow,  am  Lafitte,  whom  you  once  ap 
proached." 

Sir  Alexander  Cochrane  wheeled  about. 

"  You  are  Lafitte,  the  pirate  ?  You  are 
the  outlaw  who  preferred  their  side  to  our 
protection  ?" 

"  I  am  Lafitte,  the  pirate." 

"  And  this  gentleman  ?" 

"  Christopher  Robe,  captain  in  the  United 
States  army,"  Robe  answered. 

"  And  you  two  deliberately  killed  this 
man  without  process  of  law  ?" 

"  'Twas,  Sir  Alexander,  through  the  court 
of  the  duel." 

"  Well,  well,  we  can't  discuss  that  now,  as 
I  have  said.  D'ye  mind  telling  me  how 
much  of  a  force  Jackson  has  ?" 

"  Not  in  the  least,  general,"  Lafitte  replied ; 
"  twelve  thousand  men  in  the  city,  and  four 
thousand  at  English  Turn." 

Now  it  had  happened  that  a  detail  on  a 


200  CHALMETTE 

reconnoissance  had  taken  four  American 
pickets  at  the  entrance  of  that  bayou,  which 
had  brought  the  English  van  to  the  canal 
and  Villere's.  And  by  the  merest  chance — 
the  most  extraordinary  coincidence — these 
persons,  one  a  Creole  gentleman  of  standing, 
had  stated  that  General  Jackson's  force  was 
twelve  thousand  in  the  city,  and  four  thou 
sand  at  English  Turn.  So  now  the  admiral 
and  the  general  exchanged  glances.  And 
this  coincidence,  in  fact,  saved  New  Orleans. 
For  General  Keane,  believing  that  statements 
from  such  different  sources  must  be  worthy 
of  belief,  did  not  dare  venture  farther  till  he 
should  be  strengthened  by  his  complete 
force.  After  some  further  cross-questioning 
the  sergeant  was  ordered  to  take  the  pris 
oners  to  a  cotton-house  which  had  been 
selected  as  a  guard-house.  After  the  escape 
of  the  two  gentlemen  from  the  manor  itself 
the  British  officers  perhaps  were  not  minded 
to  take  a  further  risk  there ;  or,  rather,  it 
seemed  fit  to  herd  these  two  with  the  com 
mon  prisoners. 

This  house  stood  at  a  field's  edge,  with 


CHALMETTE  201 

close  behind  it  thick  trees  and  shrubs,  cy 
presses,  palmettoes,  vines,  cane-brakes,  a 
dense  tangle  descending  into  a  stretch  of 
impassable  morass,  so  far  as  the  British  could 
perceive  in  their  brief  occupancy  of  the  place. 
The  worn  path  to  the  cotton-house  edged 
this  thick  growth,  and  no  sentinels  had  yet 
been  stationed  on  that  side. 

When,  about  half-way  from  the  manor 
to  the  cotton-house,  the  sergeant  and  the 
guards  with  the  prisoners  were  at  a  point 
where  the  path  came  nearest  the  thickly 
wooded  morass,  there  was  a  quick  crack 
of  rifles.  The  aim  was  unerring ;  three  men 
fell.  Lafitte  brought  the  sergeant  down  with 
a  blow  of  the  fist,  and  catching  Robe  by 
the  shoulder,  he  said,  "  That  fool,  La 
Roux !"  and  sprang  straight  into  the  bushes. 
There  was  a  narrow  opening  before,  with 
here  and  there  broad  stretches  of  water. 
Shouts  and  cries  followed.  Robe  was  at 
Lafitte's  heels,  springing  from  mound  to 
mound.  The  tangle  would  have  been  inex 
tricable  save  to  the  trained  sense  which 
had  followed  it  many  times.  By  this  way 


202  CHALMETTE 

Lafitte  had  reached  his  friend,  Madame  De 
marche,  on  many  a  day.  And  now,  as  he 
sprang  forward,  he  knew  unerringly  which 
mound  to  take,  turning  about  to  warn  Robe 
to  follow  him  carefully  or  else  he  would  sink 
in  a  soft,  devouring  soil.  Behind  them  there 
gathered  a  half-dozen  alert  figures  of  those 
who  had  been  stationed  by  the  keen  L'a 
Roux  at  that  point.  He  had  watched  the 
enemy  from  his  hiding ;  had  seen  the  selec 
tion  of  the  cotton-house  for  a  guard-house  ; 
had  surmised  shrewdly  that  the  two  prisoners 
would  be  brought  that  way.  And  now 
the  cries  sank  behind  them.  The  soldiers, 
not  knowing  where  the  footholds  were,  strug 
gled  in  what  seemed  a  quicksand,  and  shortly 
the  fugitives  had  put  half  a  mile  between 
themselves  and  their  pursuers.  Over  a  simi 
lar  way  Major  Villere  had  fled,  after  hiding 
in  the  lucky  cypress,  of  which  more  later. 

At  last  they  came  to  a  narrow  stretch  of 
clear  water, — perhaps  ten  feet  wide, — where 
to  a  secure  bank  the  barge  was  moored. 

"  When  you  told  me,  captain,  to  keep  the 
barge  in  hiding,  I  brought  it  here." 


CHALMETTE  203 

"  Good,  La  Roux.  You  said  one  fellow 
escaped  you  in  the  capture.  They  might 
have  looked  for  you  in  the  other  place." 

"  Yes,  I  thought  that,  captain." 

Lafitte  scanned  the  barge-load,  Robe's 
Tennesseeans'  sharp  faces  watching  them  ; 
the  sullen  faces  of  the  Spanish  fishermen  ;  the 
two  others,  one  dark,  one  fair,  of  the  young 
Englishmen  who  had  ventured  to  meet  Ron 
ald.  Lafitte  smiled  grimly. 

"  Your  men  are  very  near  the  city,  you  may 
like  to  know.  Your  luck  has  been  bad." 

"  Yes,"  said  one,  the  fair-haired  boy,  who 
looked  the  gentleman,  despite  rough  clothes ; 
"  but  we  are  prisoners.  Still,  we  shall  not  be 
so  long." 

"  When  Admiral  Cochrane  shall  dine  in 
New  Orleans,"  Lafitte  said,  mockingly. 
"  On,  La  Roux.  This  will  bring  us  out  four 
miles  below  the  city." 

The  barge  was  started,  the  Baratarians 
gleefully  whispering  over  the  rescue,  the 
prisoners  moodily  silent. 

"  You're  a  fool,  La  Roux  !"  Lafitte  cried, 
with  a  burst  of  rage,  his  eyes  flashing. 


204  CHALMETTE 

"  Yes,  my  captain,"  said  La  Roux. 

"  You  should  have  gone  on  and  warned 
the  city." 

"  And  let  the  English  hang  you,  my  cap 
tain  ?" 

"  They  would  have  hung  the  pirate,"  La- 
fitte  said,  as  if  reflectively ;  and  he  said  no 
more  to  La  Roux. 

And  so  silently,  save  for  the  oar-dip,  they 
wound  through  a  mysterious  labyrinth  and 
suddenly  on  to  the  river.  Robe's  thoughts 
went  over  the  exciting  events  of  that  day ; 
he  could  hear  Miss  Maurice's  voice,  see  her 
eyes.  She,  at  least,  was  safe  by  Lafitte's 
foresight.  And  then  he  remembered  the 
episode  of  Ronald,  that  duel,  the  interrup 
tion,  the  strange  chance  of  the  success  of  La 
Roux's  shrewd  calculation.  It  was  obvious 
that  now  the  morass  would  be  defended  in 
some  way,  or  else  that  guard-house  aban 
doned. 

As  they  neared  the  city  the  cathedral  bell 
was  tolling  out  over  the  waters  and  the  dis 
tances. 

"  They  know  !"  said  Robe. 


CHALMETTE  205 

"  Viller£  reached  here,"  Lafitte  said,  la 
conically. 

Leaving  La  Roux  to  look  to  the  prisoners, 
Lafitte  and  Robe  sprang  ashore  and  ran  to 
wards  head-quarters.  The  streets  presented 
the  most  animated  appearance  possible, — 
men  rushing  to  and  fro,  women  calling  down 
from  balconies, — a  kaleidoscope  of  color  and 
activity. 

As  they  came  into  the  room  they  heard 
the  general's  voice. 

"  Gentlemen,"  he  said,  "  the  British  are 
below ;  we  must  fight  them  to-night." 

In  the  background  stood  Major  Villere, 
much  torn  and  bedraggled. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE  BALCONY  AT  MADAME  DEMARCHE'S 

WHAT  Lafitte  said  to  the  general, — 
whether,  indeed,  he  explained  Ronald's 
death, — is  unknown  to  Robe.  But, — trust 
to  Jean  Lafitte  to  defend  his  own  position, 
whatever  that  might  be, — General  Jackson 
was  deep  in  talk  with  the  leader  of  the  Bara- 
tarians.  And  in  that  critical  moment  the 
general  was  not  inclined  to  question  too 
closely  ways  and  means.  An  army  he 
wanted,  an  army  he  must  have,  and  a  part 
of  it  this  Lafitte  could  supply. 

Robe,  indeed,  had  no  time  to  consider  the 
general's  talk  with  Lafitte.  For  orders  were 
passed  swiftly ;  every  aide  was  in  requisition ; — 
to  Bayou  Saint  John  for  Planches  battalion, 
to  the  intrepid  Coffee's  detachment, to  Gentilly 
for  the  battalion  of  blacks.  'Twas  a  gallop 
ing  and  a  rushing  through  thronged  streets. 

Songs  joined  the  cries,  and  they  shouted,  at 
206 


CHALMETTE  207 

their  lungs'  best,  "  La  Chant  du  Depart," 
"  La  Marseillaise,"  and  "  Yankee  Doodle." 
In  these  piping  times  of  peace  you  can't 
imagine  such  a  scene,  the  color  of  it,  the 
excitement  of  it.*  It  was  fine,  and  great, 
and  tremendous,  as  I  find  those  adjectives 
used  in  a  college  essay  of  my  grandson. 

But  here  Robe  must  pause  to  tell  of  how 
he  saw  Major  Villere.  The  story  of  how 
the  news  was  brought  to  New  Orleans  is  not 
complete  without  this  addition.  He  jumped 
from  the  window,  you  remember,  after  the 
enemy  had  surrounded  his  house,  gained  the 
woods  and  the  swamp, — the  same  where  La 
Roux  made  the  coup  d'etat  of  the  escape. 
But  in  his  case  they  succeeded  in  keeping 
him  close  in  view.  So  that,  closely  pushed, 
he  climbed  a  cypress  and  lay  hid  there  till 
suddenly  he  heard  a  whining  below,  and 
looking  down  he  saw  a  favorite  setter  that 
had  followed  him.  There  was  but  one  thing 
to  do  ;  he  descended  and  killed  the  dog, — his 

*  As  I  have  written,  my  grandfather  died  before  the  Rebellion. 
We  in  Virginia  were  to  know  war  in  its  most  terrible  aspects.— 
C.  R.  F. 


208  CHALMETTE 

good  friend.  As  he  told  this  story  tears  were 
in  the  brave  gentleman's  eyes.  'Twas  like 
the  death  of  a  human  being ;  and,  as  another 
has  said,  not  the  least  of  the  sacrifices  of 
those  times  was  that  poor  setter's,  who  was 
given  to  save  New  Orleans.  For  the  major 
reached  the  city,  bringing  the  first  warning, 
— since  the  other  gentlemen  and  we  were 
much  behind  him. 

In  those  busy  moments  Robe  snatched  the 
time  to  visit  Demarche's  city  house.  He  had 
looked  to  see  Madame  or  Miss  Maurice  or 
Sister  Madeleine  among  the  crowds  of  the 
ladies  on  the  balconies,  who  were  watching 
the  scene  with  animated  interest.  From  a 
balcony  Mademoiselle  de  Renier  had  called 
to  him : 

"You  will  soon  be  marching,  captain," 
she  said.  "Ah,  we  are  working  so  hard, 
preparing  lint  and  bandages." 

"  You  expect  all  to  be  killed  ?"  he  said. 

"  We  shall  care  for  you  if  you  are  only 
wounded ;  we  will  weep  for  you  if  you  are 
killed,"  said  Mademoiselle,  gayly,  yet  with  a 
touch  of  seriousness  in  her  sparkling  dark 


CHALMETTE  209 

eyes.  "  But  what  shall  we  do  if  they  attack 
us?" 

"  That  will  be,  the  general  said,  over 
our  dead  bodies.  And  as  for  you,  Madem 
oiselle,  there's,  I'll  repeat,  that  Mr.  Beaumont 
I  met  at  Barataria." 

"  Ah,  you  would  tease,"  said  she.  "  I  met 
this  morning  a  friend  of  the  Demarches,  and 
she  was  inquiring  about  you,  Monsieur.  I 
have  my  side  of  the  argument." 

"  And  where  may  Madame  Demarche's 
be?" 

"  I  knew  you  would  ask  that  question," 
she  cried, — "  I  knew  it  well.  Go  there,  false 
one,"  she  went  on,  with  mock  solemnity. 
"  You  see  the  house  yonder  through  the 
trees." 

"  Adieu,  Mademoiselle." 

"  It  shall  be  au  revoir,"  said  she,  pouting ; 
"  for  you  will  come  back  and  the  bands 
shall  play." 

Robe  bowed  himself  away,  and  then  was 

rushing  over  to  see  the  ladies  Lafitte  had  sent 

from  the  plantation.     He  thought  over  his 

long  past  acquaintance  with  Miss  Maurice ; 

14 


210  CHALMETTE 

how  little  he  could  have  imagined  her  relation 
to  these  men  whom  the  necessity  of  war  had 
brought  again  into  the  pale  of  the  law.  He 
thought  of  the  seeming  incongruity  of  this 
young  lady,  conventionally  bred,  being 
brought  into  the  fierce  life  of  these  bucca 
neers  ;  of  how  she  had  come  to  New  Or 
leans  to  her  grandsire's  death-bed ;  of  how 
she  had  seen  those  things  which  were  for 
strong  men.  She  at  least  had  not  seen  Jean 
Lafitte's  vengeance  on  Ronald.  She  had 
been  spared  that.  And  yet,  now  all  the  hor 
rors  of  war  might  be  brought  to  her, — as  to 
the  city.  As  he  had  these  thoughts,  he  re 
membered  by  contrast  the  old,  quiet  Vir 
ginian  days, — the  girl  who  was  ever  ready  for 
a  ride  or  a  dance,  who  responded  readily 
and  mischievously  to  light  frivolity.  Had 
all  these  contrasted  experiences  changed  her 
entirely?  Was  she  that  same  young  girl, 
or,  oh,  so  different?  Had  impassable  bar 
riers  been  raised  between  them  ?  He  remem 
bered  with  a  certain  satisfaction — in  the  very 
midst  of  his  gloom — that  she  had  twitted 
him  over  his  attentions  to  little  Mademoiselle 


CHALMETTE  211 

de  Renier ;  and  then  again  how  she  had  said, 
"  The  pirate's  granddaughter."  Yet  even  if 
she  were  of  the  blood  of  that  mysterious,  that 
terrible  old  man,  she  was  as  far  above  Robe 
as  the  stars  above  the  earth.  John  Robe 
might  have  talked  about  the  bad  blood  to  his 
nephew.  It  was  she, — not  her  blood, — who 
held  the  nephew's  attention  that  moment 
as  he  walked  through  the  eager,  struggling 
crowd  to  Madame  Demarche's.  And  there 
something  surprised  htm  ;  something  put  his 
heart  to  beating,  for  a  voice  called  down  : 

"  Ah,  Kit,  I  thought  you  were  going  to 
forget  us, — to  leave  us  for  the  war  without 
saying  good-bye." 

She  was  leaning  over  towards  him  with 
the  old  laughter  in  her  face,  the  girlishness  in 
her  eyes. 

"  Yes,  it  would  have  been  very  ungracious 
of  you,"  said  Madame,  looking  him  over 
with  her  shrewd,  kindly  eyes,  "  when  it  is  our 
battle.  We  hear  we  left  Demarche  just  in 
time ;  that  they  came  down  on  us  and  on 
Villere's  and  Chalmette's.  Mr.  Lafitte's  and 
your  escape  was  fine,  indeed,  and  Major  Vil- 


212  CHALMETTE 

lere  has  just  been  telling  us  how  he  managed 
to  bring  the  news.  He  says  all  the  time  he 
was  a  prisoner  in  the  room  he  kept  repeating : 
4  They  will  say  that  I  showed  the  British  the 
bayou  and  the  canal  leading  here,  because  I 
am  a  Creole  dissatisfied  with  American  rule.' 
Then  he  took  the  risk  and  succeeded  in  get 
ting  away.  You  never  are  sure  of  your  neigh 
bors, — that  they  may  do  brave  things  in  an 
emergency." 

Robe  thought  of  that  other  whom  they 
had  left  at  Demarche's ;  that  other  who  had 
done  what  Villere  had  feared  would  be  said 
he  had  done.  Did  they  know  of  that  *?  But 
Madame  went  on,  turning  grave  : 

"  War  has  been  brought  home  to  us.  Ah, 
how  many  more  shall  we  hear  of  in  these 
next  days !  Louis  Ronald,  they  say,  was 
killed." 

"  Yes,"  said  Robe,  looking  anxiously  at 
the  Virginia  girl ;  and  perhaps  she,  too,  was 
a  little  paler.  The  black  she  wore  brought 
out  her  fairness,  which  she  had  from  the 
Maurices.  And  he  added  to  Madame, 

"  You  know  ?" 


CHALMETTE  213 

"  Mr.  Lafitte  has  been  here  and  told  us." 

How  could  he  have  told  of  that?  and 
Robe  felt  himself  shuddering.  How  could 
he  have  said,  "  I  killed  that  man  because  he 
was  a  traitor, — killed  him,  indeed,  when  he 
had  an  equal  chance  of  life  in  a  fair  duel, — 
but  killed  him?  I  had  trusted  him  thoroughly, 
and  suddenly  found  my  trust  in  the  wrong." 
Yet  Robe  was  not  squeamish  about  the  duel, 
he  has  stated  again  and  again ;  nor  was  the 
proceeding  out  of  keeping  with  Lafitte's  stern 
character,  developed  by  his  command  of  his 
lawless  followers, — a  command  which  had 
made  him  in  many  respects  a  great  captain. 

"  It  shocked  us,"  Madame  went  on.  "  Mr. 
Lafitte  did  not  tell  us  the  particulars." 

Ah,  Lafitte  had  not  told  then  !  For  a 
moment  he  was  silent.  He  could  not  tell. 
Lafitte  had  preferred  not  to  tell, — that  was 
certain.  He  personally  had  no  quarrel  with 
Lafitte,  with  whom  he  had  acted  in  his  own 
official  capacity, — that  was  all ;  save  dislike  in 
one  particular  :  Lafitte's  wish, — which  he  sus 
pected  had  been  to  marry  Miss  Maurice  to 
Ronald. 


214  CHALMETTE 

"  It  was  one  of  the  events  of  war,"  he 
said,  non-committally. 

"  I  never  liked  that  man,"  Miss  Maurice 
said,  slowly.  He  looked  at  her  quickly. 
Had  she  said  that  for  his  benefit  ? 

"  You  saw  much  of  him  ?"  he  asked. 
"  You  knew  him  very  well  ?" 

"  No,  not  very  well,  to  be  sure.  I  might 
have  changed  my  mind.  It  is  terrible, — to 
think  of  him  as  dead.  When  I  came  to 
New  Orleans  I  stopped  over  with  my  aunt. 
He  came  there  with  Mr.  Lafitte." 

"  I  had  a  note  from  you  then,"  he  said, 
smiling,  telling  it  over  again. 

"  Yes,  yes,"  she  said,  flushing ;  "  it  was  a 
silly  little  note." 

"  But  I  rather  liked  it,"  he  retorted. 

"  There's  no  accounting  for  tastes,  Kit.  I 
shouldn't  say  that ;  the  young  lady  is  very 
pretty ;  I  can  account  for  it  readily."  And 
she  smiled  at  him  as  he  had  not  seen  her 
smile  since  he  had  left  her  at  Westmore. 

"  Oh,  that  isn't  fair,"  he  cried.  "  I  could 
say  those  things  of  you, — if  I  wanted  to. 
You  know  well  enough." 


CHALMETTE  215 

"  Could  you  *?"  she  said.  "  Could  you, — 
about  poor  Mr.  Ronald,  perhaps?  I  saw 
him  in  Barataria  three  times ;  in  New  Orleans 
once ;  at  the  plantation  twice.  He  at  least 
was  always  very  nice, — though  I  didn't  like 
him  particularly,  as  I  said  before." 

Madame  was  watching  the  two ;  perhaps 
drawing  her  own  conclusions ;  she  looked 
very  serious ;  perhaps  her  thoughts  were  in 
other  days, — when  she  had  been  on  a  bal 
cony  talking  with  some  young  gentleman ; 
when  certain  expressions  of  the  eye,  of  face, 
certain  words,  signified,  indeed,  a  deal.  Per 
haps  she  was  thinking  of  Ronald,  whose 
family  had  been  connected  with  hers, — 
whom  she  had  known  always ;  perhaps  it 
was  the  fear  that — with  all  the  confidence 
General  Jackson's  assurances  had  gained — 
held  New  Orleans  on  that  day.  We  might 
hope  for  the  best ;  we  might  laugh  and  pre 
tend  to  be  brave,  but  who  could  tell  of  the 
morrow?  The  British  sailors  and  soldiers 
had  done  so  much ;  had  known  so  much 
of  the  discipline  of  action.  Now  she  rose 
and  left  them  there  on  the  balcony, — a  bal- 


216  CHALMETTE 

cony  Robe  always  held  after  a  dear,  sacred 
place. 

For  some  moments  they  were  silent,  and 
then  the  girl  said,  looking  down, — 

"Ah,  Kit,  you  must  understand  me, — I 
shall  think  of  you  in  your  danger.  I  shall 
pray  for  you,  as  the  nuns  of  the  Ursulines  will 
pray  for  the  success  of  you  all.  I  can't  forget, 
this  fearful  day,  that  we  played  together." 

"And  that  is  all,"  he  said.  "Is  it  all? 
Be  frank  this  last  day.  I  thought  of  you, — 
with  gladness  and  despair,  too, — when  I 
found  that  note  you  sent." 

"  Ah,"  she  said, "  you  thought  me  jealous." 

"  Now,  weren't  you  ?  Please  to  let  me 
believe  that  you  were,  and  I  never  can 
thank  you  enough, — never,  dear.  No, — not 
a  word,  not  an  objection." 

"  But,"  she  said,  pushing  him  away,  "  I  am 
De  Bertrand's  granddaughter,  and  you " 

"  And  who  were  my  people  some  genera 
tions  back  ?  Were  they  much  better  ? 
Don't  most  of  the  English  families  date 
from  rough,  strong  old  fellows,  who  did 
exactly  as  Captain  de  Bertrand  ?  And  what, 


CHALMETTE  217 

indeed,  is  it  to  you  and  to  me  ?  You  are 
you,  dear.  And  I, — I  am  a  poor,  weak  chap, 
whose  single  virtue  is  that  he  knows  who  the 
nicest  girl  in  the  world  is,  and  that  he  will 
try  to  deserve  her." 

When  you  were  in  love,  did  you  make  a 
speech  like  that  ?  Did  not  the  world  seem  a 
finer,  better,  grander  place, — -just  for  her? 
And  if  you  have  not  lost  the  illusion,  still, 
isn't  it  so  through  her  ?  And,  after  all, — for 
all  the  pessimists, — honesty  and  truth  and 
simple  love  are  what  make  the  world  worth 
while.  With  any  two  of  them  we  can  see 
God  ;  without  them  He  sometimes  may  seem 
an  impossibility. 

Now  Robe  said, — and  you  can  fancy  how 
far  he  had  progressed, — 

"  Tell  me  truly,  Sallie.  Was  it  so  much 
the  thought  of  your  mother's  family " 

"  It  was  a  very  good  family,"  she  said. 
"  My  grandfather,  from  the  way  he  was 
found, — do  you  know  the  story1? — showed 
every  evidence  of  gentle  birth.  My  mother 
was  well  bred  and  educated.  My  aunt  you 
know." 


218  CHALMETTE 

"  I  know  her,  and  she  was  kind  to  me." 

"  She  likes  you,"  Sallie  said,  "  because  she 
knew  I  did." 

"  But  tell  me,"  Robe  insisted,  "  it  was  not 
so  much  the  thought  of  your  grandfather's 
career  as " 

"  It  was  a  fearful  career,"  she  said  ;  "  but, 
Kit,  he  was  born  in  it, — brought  up  t*o 
it " 

"  Yes,  yes.  But  it  was  principally  jealousy 
of  Mademoiselle  de  Renier  which  made  you 
refuse  me." 

"  You  are  odious,"  she  said, — "just  odious." 

"  Well,  that  letter  raised  my  hopes,  and 
when  you  saved  me  from  Belouche's 
crew " 

"  It  was  Dominique  You,"  she  said.  "  It 
was  but  common  humanity  on  my  part. 
I  have  explained  before.  I  think  you  are 
vain " 

"  I  am  a  bit,"  he  acknowledged.  "  You 
have  made  me  so.  But  you  will  make  me 
vainer  and  braver  by  that  acknowledgment." 

"  Why,  Kit,  I  never  heard  of  anybody  so 
— vain.  But, — but, — you  are  going  away, — 


CHALMETTE  219 

perhaps  to  the  wars.  I  don't  care, — what 
you  may  be,  dear,  and, — yes,  it  was." 

But  that  scene  is  not  too  much  to  be  writ 
ten  about ;  Robe  has  recorded  that  balcony 
corner  is  ever  to  be  held  dear, — sacred.  And 
all  this  had  taken  place  in  much  less  time  than 
its  telling ;  for  Robe  was  but  a  little  time  out 
of  the  street,  with  its  forming  troops.  And 
now  he  was  hurrying  to  his  duty  with  the  feel 
ing  of  her  lips  still  on  his ;  of  her  arms  about 
him  ;  of  the  delicious  self-surrender  that  made 
her  ever  the  one  woman.  Nor  has  he  since 
changed  in  that  opinion. 

As  he  passed  out  Madame  met  him,  and 
she  saw  it  in  his  eyes.  And  she,  too,  smiled, 
and  she  took  his  hand. 

"  I  congratulate  you,  my  friend.  But, — 
you  did  not  tell  her  of  Ronald  ?" 

"  You  know,  then  ?"  he  asked,  suddenly 
turned  sober. 

"  That  Jean  Lafitte  killed  him  in  a  duel," 
she  said.  "  Yes,  he  told  me." 

"  And  he  did  not  wish  her  to  know  ?" 

Suddenly,  for  all  his  lover's  mood,  jealousy 
shadowed  him. 


220  CHALMETTE 

"  You  think  she  fancied  him  ? — ah,  but  I 
see,  it  is  Jean  Lafitte  who  doesn't  wish  her  to 
know." 

"  He  still  has  her  property,"  Madame  said. 
"And  after  her  experiences  in  Barataria, — 
and  since  her  grandfather  was  a  violent  man, 
— he  thinks  it  as  well  that  she  should  not 
know." 

"  Yes, — yes,  he  wants  her  good  opinion, — 
he  fears  her  bad  one." 

"  He  cares  much  for  her,  Monsieur." 

"  I  am  not  afraid  of  him, — or  the  whole 
world,  Madame.  Yet  it  is  good  of  you  to 
tell  me  this.  And  you  are  his  friend " 

"  Yes,  always  his  friend  ;  but  Mademoiselle 
Maurice  has  attracted  me  singularly.  So  I 
have  told  you.  He  would  be  a  particularly 
bad  man  to  thwart  you.  He  doesn't  like 
you  any  too  well." 

"  Then  why  doesn't  he  show  it." 

"  Perhaps  he  is  too  subtle ;  perhaps  he 
might  wish  to  please  her.  Her  uncle  in 
Virginia,  Monsieur  Maurice,  will  be  down 
here, — after  the  peace.  I  shall  feel  easier 
when  Monsieur  Lafitte  turns  over  the  prop- 


CHALMETTE  221 

erty.  Not  that  he  isn't  quite  trustworthy, — 
no,  not  in  the  least ;  believe  me,  I  didn't 
imply  that.  Outside  of  the  conduct  and  the 
interest  of  his  trade,  never  was  a  man  more 
trustworthy,  Monsieur.  He  is  trustworthy  in 
his  accounting  to  others.  You  know  how 
well  he  is  esteemed  in  New  Orleans, — not 
withstanding  that  trade ;  how  heavily  he 
contributes  to  the  charities ;  how  fine  a  man 
he  is.  But  when  he  is  thwarted, — when  his 
passion  is  aroused, — he  is  a  different  man. 
Oh,  you  know.  Well,  it's  this :  I  found 
him  talking  to  me  about  arranging  a  mar 
riage  between  her  and  Ronald,  because  that 
would  bring  together  two  fortunes  acquired 
from  the  Gulf  trade, — Ronald's  through  its 
Louisianian  connection,  to  be  sure, — but 
still  in  that  way.  This  would  continue  his 
use  of  the  two  fortunes, — this  would  help 
his  own  influence  in  New  Orleans.  But 
suddenly  I  found  him  giving  up  that 
idea." 

"  Perhaps  he  already  distrusted  Ronald  ?" 
"  Never,  till  that  discovery.      And  how 
much  was  his  duel  with  Ronald  caused  by  a 


222  CHALMETTE 

quickly  gained  dislike  of  him  in  the  condi 
tion  of  suitor?" 

"  She  did  not  encourage  him, — Ron 
ald?" 

"  No,  no,  no ;  not  in  the  least,  Captain 
Robe.  But  I  thought  I  would  tell  you. 
Jean  Lafitte  is  such  a  strange  man, — such  a 
fearful  man ;  so  attractive,  so  unrelenting. 
My  husband  was  his  friend ;  he  has  been 
mine  ever.  Yet  now, — Mademoiselle  Mau 
rice  has  seemed  to  me  so  much  like  a  daugh 
ter, — a  daughter  I  never  have  had, — that  I 
don't  want  her  hurt ;  and  I  thought  I  would 
tell  you." 

"  Thank  you,  Madame.  Monsieur  Lafitte 
has  been  kindness  itself, — as  you  have,  in 
deed  ;  and  I  am  not  afraid  of  him, — in  the 
very  least." 

"  Well,  well,  forgive  an  old  woman's 
fancies,  Monsieur,  and  good  fortune  to  you, 
— and  to  the  battle." 

A  low  voice  called  from  the  balcony.  He 
looked  up  to  catch  one  last  glimpse  of  her, 
— the  particular  her.  She  waved  back  to 
him,  and  her  eyes  reached  to  his  heart. 


CHALMETTE  223 

Some  moments  after  he  ran  across  M. 
Deschamps  and  his  friend,  M.  St.  Geme. 

"  You  look  surprisingly  good-natured," 
said  Deschamps. 

"  You  have  the  smile  one  should  carry 
into  battle,"  said  St.  Geme.  And  then  the 
two  creole  gentlemen  fell  to  their  places  in 
a  fine  body  of  men,  straight,  lithe,  bearing 
themselves  like  soldiers, — the  Creoles  !  And 
there  were  Beale's  rifles  in  blue  hunting- 
shirts, — good  shots  all, — their  weapons  over 
their  shoulders.  And  there  were  Hinds's 
cavalry.  Then  came  General  Coffee's  com 
mand,  a  throng  of  uncouth,  unshaven,  long 
haired  men,  wearing  discolored  hunting-shirts, 
coonskin  caps,  knives  and  tomahawks  in 
their  belts, — men  who  had  taken  their  man 
nerisms  from  the  Indians  themselves.  And 
then  were  the  freemen  of  color,  with  behind 
them  a  hundred  Choctaws  in  war-paint ;  and 
last  the  regulars. 

Robe  saw  these  in  review  beside  the  gen 
eral,  whom  he  joined  at  the  gate  of  Fort 
Saint  Charles.  Then,  after  the  schooner 
"  Carolina,"  Commodore  Patterson,  began  to 


224  CHALMETTE 

move  with  the  current,  the  general  put  his 
horse  to  the  canter,  followed  close  by  his 
aides. 

So  the  army  of  defence  marched  to  meet 
those  most  efficient  and  distinguished  troops, 
— whose  van,  if  not  much  more,  now  awaited 
them  about  Villere's  and  Chalmette's,  and 
the  fronts  of  the  bayous  and  canals. 


CHAPTER   XVII 

THE  FIRST  DAYS  OF  THE  BATTLE 

WHAT  is  a  man's  impression  of  the  days 
of  a  great  battle  and  their  intense  activity? 
Robe,  in  recollecting  it,  hardly  knows  at  all. 
He  had  been  under  fire  several  times,  and  he 
has  recorded  Lundy's  Lane  in  these  pages. 
The  aide's  sense  of  his  own  duties  are  rather 
in  confusion.  He  remembers  Hind's  dra 
goons  riding  out,  and  turning  back  after 
some  moments  under  a  brisk  volley  from  the 
British  rifles.  He  remembers  rushing  about 
on  various  errands ;  he  remembers  the  mar 
shalling  along  the  Rodriguez  Canal,  perhaps 
two  miles  from  the  enemy.  And  then  there 
was  the  long  wait,  and  the  darkness  rising 
and  enveloping  the  enemy's  lines,  where  the 
fires  made  sharp  points  of  flickering  light. 
An  object  was  stealing  down  the  river,  though 
the  enemy  did  not  seem  to  be  clear  about  it, 

— Commodore  Patterson's  "  Carolina."    And 
15  225 


226  CHALMETTE 

then  there  rang  out — it  had  all  fallen  still — a 
strong  voice  over  the  waters  and  fields, — 
"  Give  them  this  for  the  honor  of  America," 
and  there  were  points  and  lines  of  dancing 
lights  and  a  persistent  thundering. 

Robe  had  been  on  an  order  to  General 
Coffee,  whose  men  were  skirting  the  swamp 
at  the  right,  awaiting  these  sounds  that  came 
sweeping  over  the  levees  and  the  fields.  The 
general  wished  to  delay  a  bit,  and  there  must 
have  been  an  hour  before  there  began  an 
irregular  firing ;  when  to  all  was  a  fearsome, 
human  screech  and  a  rushing  together  of  dim 
figures,  who,  when  they  failed  to  fire  because 
of  the  short  distance,  clubbed  their  muskets, 
man  to  man ;  the  Tennesseeans  drawing  knives 
and  brandishing  tomahawks,  which  the  pris 
oners  taken  called  a  most  barbarous  method 
of  fighting,  as  perhaps  it  was.  At  the  firing 
distance  the  superiority  of  the  long  American 
bore  over  the  short  English  musket  was 
proven  that  night  of  the  exciting  noises. 
For  the  "  Carolina"  kept  up  its  angry 
fusillades,  to  which  was  added  this  staccato 
of  firing.  But  before  the  struggle  was  at  its 


CHALMETTE  227 

heat  Robe  was  back  at  the  left  with  his  gen 
eral.  Yet  he  knew  the  story  as  well  as  those 
who  were  in  the  hottest  of  it.  'Twas,  to 
be  sure,  a  most  irregular,  guerilla  fight 
ing,  from  the  point  of  view  of  those  trained 
British,  but  it  gave  that  night  the  key  of  the 
fight, — the  skill  of  American  riflemen  and 
gunners.  For  the  British,  ordered  behind  the 
levee  to  avoid  the  "  Carolina's"  fire,  had  sal 
lied  out  to  support  their  pickets  and  had  been 
borne  back.  And  when  the  second  division 
came  up  the  "  Carolina's"  firing  still  made 
the  numbers  not  so  unequal. 

The  scene  blurred ;  in  vague,  scurrying 
outlines  the  winter  swamp-fog  swept  over  it, 
making  the  fires  dull,  uncertain,  and  gradually 
silencing  the  fighters. 

A  number  of  prisoners  were  taken,  and 
among  them  an  officer  of  the  Ninety-fifth 
Rifles,  who,  on  Robe's  asking  if  anything 
could  be  done  for  him,  replied,  "  Return 
General  Jackson  my  compliments,  and  say 
that,  as  my  baggage  will  reach  me  in  a  few 
days,  I  shall  be  able  to  dispense  with  his 
polite  attentions."  And,  indeed,  though  we 


228  CHALMETTE 

had  been  successful  in  that  first  night's  sortie, 
it  looked  as  if  this  proud  British  officer 
might  be  entirely  in  the  right.  'Twas  to 
him  that  Mademoiselle  de  Renier  remarked, 
"  I'd  rather  be  the  wife  of  a  Tennesseean, 
roughly  clad  as  he  is,  than  a  countess."  And 
Mademoiselle's  eyes  flashed  finely  as  she  de 
livered  that  tribute  to  the  good  fighters  who 
had  marched  fifteen  hundred  miles  to  be  with 
Jackson  at  New  Orleans. 

But  to  return  to  the  narrative.  The  next 
day  was  the  twenty-fourth,  and,  as  the  late 
dawn  came,  the  "  Louisiana,"  new  in  the 
position,  joined  the  "  Carolina"  in  the  bom 
bardment  of  the  camp.  We  on  our  side 
had  been  working  with  pick  and  spade 
making  a  line  of  defence  off  the  bank  of  the 
Rodriguez  Canal,  taking  anything  we  could 
put  our  hands  on, — bits  of  timber,  rails,  and 
some  cotton-bales,  though  very  few  of  the 
latter  were  used,  contrary  to  the  story.  The 
general  had  sent  to  the  city  the  night  before 
for  picks  and  shovels,  and  nearly  every  man 
was  at  this  labor,  including  the  aides. 

And  so  the  twenty-fourth  passed,  and  the 


CHALMETTE  229 

next  night,  a  frosty,  damp  night,  the  ground 
cold  and  moist,  leaving  even  our  hardy 
men  shivering,  and  greatly  depressing  the 
enemy,  who  imagined  us  five  times  as 
strong  as  we  were.  But  on  Christmas  morn 
ing  we  heard  from  a  spy  that  Lord  Long 
ford's  now  famous  son,  Sir  Edward  Paken- 
ham,  had  arrived, — a  general  who  had  led 
the  storming  at  Badajoz,  and  had  been 
knighted  for  the  charge  at  Salamanca.  As 
the  general  urged  his  men  to  further  endeav 
ors  with  their  spades  and  picks,  he  let  drop 
the  first  and  last  expression  of  fear  that  Robe 
heard  from  his  lips  during  those  eventful 
days. 

He  was  sitting  at  a  table  in  the  Macarty 
House  (which  he  had  taken  for  head-quar 
ters),  when  Robe  heard  him  say  to  General 
Coffee,— 

"  They  may  beat  us.  How  can  we  hold 
out  against  soldiers  like  that?"  Then  his 
thin,  pale,  tired  face  lit  with  a  smile.  "  But 
I  guess  we'll  hold  out,  Coffee."  What  Gen 
eral  Coffee  said  Robe  did  not  hear.  But 
Raoul  Deschamps  told  our  captain  of  a  re- 


230  CHALMETTE 

port  to  the  effect  that  if  Sir  Edward  should 
win,  he  was  to  be  made  Earl  of  Louisiana, 
which  would  have  been  a  very  proper  title 
for  so  brave  and  notable  a  success. 

The  next  day  the  firing  was  kept  up  from 
the  gunboats,  but  was  intermittent  from  our 
lines,  we  being  for  the  most  .at  our  ditch  ;  yet 
we  noted  that  a  great  battery  was  being  put 
on  the  levee,  and  by  the  next  day  those 
guns  broke  out  on  Commodore  Patterson's 
vessels,  tearing  and  rending,  till  suddenly 
there  was  a  burst  of  flame  and  a  tremendous 
report.  The  "  Carolina"  had  blown  up,  and 
it  seemed  as  if  the  "  Louisiana"  would  share 
her  sister  vessel's  fate  ;  by  towing  she  reached 
a  point  opposite  our  camp,  when  the  crew 
and  the  men  in  the  works  began  a  cheer, 
which  was  echoed  from  the  crowds  of  ob 
servers  on  the  banks.  For  people  came  from 
the  city  and  the  surrounding  country  to  see 
the  struggle,  as  if  it  were  some  theatrical 
display. 

"  They  are  moving  forward,"  said  the  gen 
eral,  who  stood,  telescope  in  hand,  watching 
the  enemy,  "  in  two  columns.  Have  Cap- 


CHALMETTE  231 

tain  Dominique  You  bring  a  battery  to 
command  the  road." 

Further  orders  were  passed  to  cut  the 
levee,  to  bring  forward  the  infantry,  to  have 
the  crew  of  the  "  Carolina"  take  charge  of 
one  battery. 

Robe  found  Captain  You  busied  in  his 
position,  a  score  of  red-shirted,  grimy,  and 
mud-stained  followers  about  him.  The  aide 
pointed  out  the  position  he  was  directed  to 
take.  The  captain  shouted  an  order  in 
French  and  Spanish. 

"  Eh,  Captain  Robe,"  said  a  voice  over  his 
shoulder,  and  turning  he  saw  Jean  Lafitte, — 
not  the  urbane  Jean  Lafitte,  but  the  dan 
gerous  one. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

THE   RIVALS 

"You  saw  Mademoiselle,"  said  he,  slowly. 
And  Robe,  watching  him  with  a  sudden  dis 
like,  remembered  what  Madame  Demarche 
had  said. 

"  Yes,  Monsieur  Lafitte.  And  she  will  be 
my  wife, — if  I  live  through  this." 

"  Is  that  your  decision  ?"  Lafitte  said,  with 
a  perceptible  sneer.  His  fine  manners  were 
gone ;  he  was  a  bit  begrimed,  like  his  men. 
Now  Robe  and  he  stood  near  the  gunners, 
in  earnest  rivalry. 

"  Monsieur,"  said  Lafitte,  when  Robe  did 
not  answer,  "  I  tell  you  frankly  that  I  shall 
try  to  prevent  this, — yes,  I, — understand  me, 
Monsieur." 

"  And  why,"  Robe  asked,  "  if  I  have  her 
wish  ?" 

"  Because " 

232 


CHALMETTE  233 

And  suddenly  Lafitte's  voice  broke  into 
passion, — 

"  I  am  not  a  man  to  be  trifled  with,  Cap 
tain  Robe.  And  I'll  tell  you  what  I  mean. 
Why  didn't  I  give  my  hand  to  those  yon 
der1?" 

He  pointed  to  the  British  line. 

"  Because,"  he  went  on,  "  there  had  come 
into  my  life  my  partner's — De  Bertrand's — 
granddaughter,  d'ye  understand  me  *?  because 
that  reason  was  added  to  the  others." 

"No,  not  quite,  Monsieur,  not  quite," 
Robe  said,  contemptuously,  eying  his  antago 
nist  from  head  to  toe  ;  "  I  don't  consider  that 
I  understand  you." 

Nor  did  he,  indeed ;  for  this  man  in 
passion  was  so  different  from  what  he  ordi 
narily  was ;  he  who  was  wont  to  be  master 
ful  now  lost  that  self-mastery ;  and  about 
them  were  the  singing  shot.  But  Lafitte 
went  on  : 

"  Of  course,  I  had  an  object, — a  weak 
ness.  It  was  that  she  would  not  approve  of 
the  position  I  held.  It  was  she,  Monsieur, 
as  much  as  any  other  consideration ;  she, 


234  CHALMETTE 

whose  regard  I  had  won  in  some  small  de 
gree,  could  not  think  of  me  as  the  pirate 
Lafitte, — d'ye  hear  ?  It  was  she,  and  I  do 
not  deny  it." 

He  paused,  his  passion  seemingly  ex 
pressed  by  that  lurid  scene. 

"And  yet  you,  a  boy  from  Virginia, 
dare  to  come  between  us.  I'll  not  have  it^ 
Monsieur ;  I'll  not  have  it." 

Robe  said : 

"It  matters  not  to  me  what  you  will 
have  and  what  not,  Monsieur.  The  tenor 
of  your  talk  is  extremely  distasteful,  d'you 
understand  ?  It  is  between  her  and  me." 

"If  you  find  it  distasteful,  there's  the 
alternative,  Monsieur,"  said  the  other,  ad 
vancing  a  step, — "  there's  the  alternative." 

"  I  know  it,  and  shall  accept  it,  Monsieur, 
when  your  second  waits  on  me,"  said 
Robe,  bowing.  A  shell  rushed  through  the 
sky.  He  looked  at  the  men  working  in 
the  mud  and  dirt,  and  at  Lafitte,  their 
leader. 

"  You  have  heard  me,"  he  said,  turning  on 
his  heel.  "  You  have  heard  me." 


CHALMETTE  235 

But  Lafitte  did  not  reply.  His  chin  rested 
on  his  hand,  looking  out  over  the  scene. 

Captain  Robe  turned  and  left  him,  feeling 
that  he  hated  this  man  and  gladly  would 
meet  him. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

OTHER   DAYS   OF   BATTLE 

IN  the  morning,  clear,  frosty,  resplendent 
with  the  low  southeasterly  sun,  we  saw  a 
great  mass  of  scarlet-coated  men  approach 
ing, — fine,  with  accurate  step, — such  an  ex 
hibition  of  military  pomp  and  power  as 
Robe  never  had  seen.  And  then  suddenly 
was  a  loud  report,  and  the  Chalmette  houses 
were  blown  up ;  a  shell  had  fallen  in  powder 
stores.  And  that  obstruction  being  removed, 
the  splendid,  advancing  mass  saw  the  stern 
throats  of  the  Yankee  guns,  which  burst  out 
in  a  hoarse  refrain  of  terror  and  destruction. 
The  aide,  watching  at  this  moment  beside 
the  general  in  the  dormer  window  of  the 
Macarty  house,  saw  the  scarlet  coats  tumb 
ling,  falling,  and  yet  advancing ;  and  then  it 
all  seemed  to  bend  and  fall. 

"  This  is  not  the  Peninsula,  Robe,"  said 
236 


CHALMETTE  237 

the  Tennesseean,  turning  to  the  young  Vir 
ginian,  of  whom  he  was  fond. 

Then  there  was  the  New  Year's  Eve,  1815, 
and  we  saw,  facing  us,  three  demilunes,  equi 
distant  from  each  other,  and  many  pieces  of 
heavy  ordnance,  served  we  knew  by  the  best 
gunners,  who  had  been  trained  by  the  greatest 
captains. 

Then  a  scurrying  mist  hid  them  from  view. 

We  were  having  a  parade  that  day,  our 
uniforms  brushed,  our  accoutrements  dili 
gently  polished,  the  bands  playing  merrily 
"  Yankee  Doodle  ;"  and  they  stood  expectant 
behind  the  fog,  which  suddenly  lifted,  when 
a  hail  of  shot  and  shells  assailed  and  shook 
us. 

"  To  your  posts  !"  came  the  orders. 

We  slipped  to  our  places.  The  general 
seemed  everywhere,  waving  his  cap, — now 
encouraging  one,  now  the  other.  And  our 
guns  gave  them  a  response. 

"  The  cotton  bales  !  the  cotton  bales !" 
cried  a  voice.  "  Quick,  captain  !" 

Those  unfortunate  bales  had  been  lighted 
by  a  shot  and  were  blazing.  We  tumbled 


238  CHALMETTE 

them  out,  and  Robe  so  burnt  his  right  hand 
that  he  had  to  carry  it  to  a  surgeon.  But 
our  weakness  in  the  burning  bales  was  cor 
rected. 

And  that  tremendous  cannonading  kept 
up,  but  the  reply  was  less  frequent  from  the 
other  side,  and  the  smoke  rising,  we  saw  their 
works  levelled  and  men  retreating. 

And  so  day  after  day  passed ;  days  that 
wore  out  the  nerves  and  strength  of  both 
sides;  fierce,  terrible  days, — leading  to  the 
great  day. 

On  the  seventh  we  heard,  somewhat  dis 
mayed,  that  they  had  been  reinforced  by 
General  Lambert  with  the  Seventh  Fusiliers 
and  the  Forty-third.  But  some  moments 
after  this  the  Kentuckians,  twenty-three  hun 
dred  strong,  came  in.  After  a  march  of  fif 
teen  hundred  miles  they,  tattered  and  torn, 
had  reached  New  Orleans,  where  the  citizens 
clothed  and  fed  them. 

So  our  dismay  was  lessened.  On  the  left 
bank  of  the  river  we  had  four  thousand  good 
and  now  tried  men  ;  on  the  right  of  the  river 
were  Generals  Coffee  and  Ross,  whose  men 


CHALMETTE  239 

were  knee  deep  in  the  water  during  the  day, 
and  at  night  snatched  uncertain  sleep  at  some 
dry  point,  or  even  on  a  floating  log. 

Back  of  us  at  intervals  of  two  miles  were 
reserves  made  up  of  the  less  able  of  us. 

In  front  we  had  strengthened  our  bulwarks 
and  looked  carefully  to  our  guns. 

So  came  the  eighth  of  January,  1815. 


CHAPTER  XX 

THE   EIGHTH   OF  JANUARY 

CAPTAIN  ROBE,  asleep  in  a  ditch,  was 
wakened  by  a  rough  shake.  An  eager  face 
looked  down  at  him.  He  raised  himself, 
rubbing  his  eyes. 

"  La  Roux  !"  said  he,  on  his  feet. 

"  Hist,  captain,"  La  Roux  said ;  "  don't 
call  out  my  name  that  loud.  I  am,  captain, 
a  traitor." 

"  A  traitor,  Monsieur  La  Roux  !"  our  cap 
tain  cried. 

"  Not  so  loud,  Monsieur  Captain, — not  so 
loud.  Would  you  have  me  killed  ?" 

"  No,  my  good  fellow, — how  absurd  !  I 
never  have  had  anything  but  kindness  at 
your  hands  since  you  made  us  prisoners  at 
Barataria." 

"  Yes,  and  I  liked  you,  Monsieur, — from 

the  first, — from  the  first.     And  she " 

240 


CHALMETTE  241 

He  bent  his  head  and  spoke  almost  as  if 
ashamed. 

"  I  was  brought  up  to  our  trade,  as  our 
great  Captain  de  Bertrand  was.  I  never 
knew  aught  else,  Monsieur,  till  Monsieur 
Jean  Lafitte  persuaded  me  to  give  up  the 
work  at  sea  for  that  he  had  to  do  at  Bara- 
taria.  Since  then  I  have  been  for  the  most 
in  Louisiana.  My  father  had  naught  to 
say  to  me ;  my  mother  was  a  Carthaginian 
woman,  whom  he  discarded.  Yet  blood  is 
thicker  than  water,  Monsieur ;  she  is  of  my 
line " 

"  She  ?"  asked  Robe,  almost  bewildered. 
"  You  can't  mean " 

"  Yes,  your  Mademoiselle  Maurice  is  my 
half-niece,  Monsieur.  I  am  Captain  de 
Bertrand's  natural  son.  And " 

"  You  are  her  relative,"  Robe  said,  taking 
the  little  man's  thin,  narrow  hand. 

"Yes,  Monsieur, — her  relative.  And  I 
have  eyes.  Jean  Lafitte  has  thought  too 
much  of  her,  I  know.  And  you  think  much 
of  her,  Monsieur.  And  I  say, — because  a 
hurt  to  you  would  be  a  hurt  to  her, — I  say, 

16 


242  CHALMETTE 

have  a  care,  Monsieur  Captain.  Jean  Lafitte 
can  strike." 

For  a  moment  he  paused,  and  the  irreg 
ular  firing  along  th'e  lines  timed  Robe's 
thoughts. 

"  Have  a  care,  Monsieur  !" 

And  La  Roux  vanished  into  the  gloom 
that  was  lighting  with  the  day. 

He  meant  then  that  his  leader  would  do 
Robe  a  harm.  Robe  laughed,  and  yet  in 
some  way  was  concerned.  Yet  what  harm, 
should  he  wish  it,  could  Lafitte  do  ?  He  had 
challenged  him  and  had  received  no  response. 
In  his  busy  days  he  had  no  chance  of  seeing 
him.  But  La  Roux  knew  his  master ;  and 
La  Roux  had  warned  him.  He  would  have 
his  eyes  opened. 

And  the  dawn  was  over  the  works,  and  a 
great  scarlet  line  was  marching  on,  on,  a 
blaze  of  rockets  before ;  the  assault  had 
come  at  last ;  there  was  Gibbs's  and  Keane's 
divisions,  and  Sir  Edward  himself  close 
under  our  lines,  and  our  guns  were  belching 
out, — belching  out.  And  the  general's  voice 
sounded  shrill  and  commanding : 


CHALMETTE  243 

"  Stand  to  your  guns !  See  that  every 
shot  tells !" 

And  again  Robe  heard  him, — 

"  Give  it  to  them,  boys  !" 

What  an  uproar,  what  a  furious  pandemo 
nium  !  the  whole  line  seemed  to  be  pelting 
fire.  The  Tennesseeans,  keen,  alert,  stood  on 
the  wall,  not  minding  their  exposure, — in 
deed,  making  every  shot  tell. 

The  red,  human  mass  shook  and  waved, 
and  yet  came  on,  till  they  seemed  not  two 
hundred  yards  away. 

"  Fire  !     Fire  !"     Robe  heard  the  shout. 

And  with  what  precision  of  perfect  dis 
cipline  was  that  order  obeyed !  A  line  of 
men  would  fall,  to  be  replaced  by  another. 
And  we  followed  our  general's  order  to  the 
letter,  not  wasting  a  shot.  Never  has  Robe 
seen  a  more  fearful  nor  yet  a  more  splendid 
sight.  He  could  see  no  less  a  personage 
than  Sir  Edward  himself  leading  a  regiment 
of  Highlanders  close  behind, — the  Forty- 
fourth,  as  it  was  to  prove.  On  they  came, 
men  dropping  here  and  there,  perhaps  some 
rising  again,  but,  for  the  most,  staying  there, 


244  CHALMETTE 

crushed  by  that  storm  of  fire  and  lead.  For 
the  Tennesseeans  were  unerring  in  their  aim, 
not  a  shot  failing.  'Twas  a  marksmanship 
that  gained  Napoleon's  commendation.  And 
the  Baratarians  and  the  crews  of  the  "  Car 
olina"  and  the  "  Louisiana"  were  as  sure  at 
their  big  guns.  Robe  saw  the  brave  Sir 
Edward's  horse's  fall,  and  he  mounted  a  little 
pony  a  young  officer  offered  him.  And  the 
column  kept  on.  But  no  endurance  could 
meet  that  dreadful  fire.  The  column  was 
broken  and  cast  down.  You  could  almost 
hear  in  your  imagination  the  voices  of  the 
officers.  But  again  they  rose  with  a  stern 
defiance,  their  lips  framing  their  Highland 
cries.  The  conquerors  of  many  a  field  were 
not  to  be  so  beaten  back  by  these  wild,  un 
couth  men  they  saw  on  the  bulwarks.  Toss 
ing  aside  knapsacks  and  useless  equipments, 
they  advanced  again.  One  at  least  had  a 
charmed  life, — brandishing  his  sword,  a  fine, 
smooth-faced  man,  proud  in  his  strength  and 
his  determination.  A  sharpshooter  cursed 
lustily ;  his  skill  seemed  to  fail  him.  That 
leader  and  a  half-dozen  others  were  to  the 


CHALMETTE  245 

parapet's  foot ;  the  young  officer  with  a  spring 
was  on  the  top,  calling  back  to  his  followers  ; 
and  then  with  a  convulsive  leap  he  fell  over 
into  Captain  Robe's  arms.  And  Robe  laid 
him  down  and  felt  a  sob  in  his  own  heart. 
And  he  turned  again  to  his  duty.  For  that  was 
the  day  when  there  could  be  no  pause,  no  rest. 

And  still  they  were  advancing,  and  still 
were  being  cut  down,  like  a  great  field  of 
poppies  bending  under  the  scythe. 

"  That  was  Pakenham,"  said  M.  St.  Geme, 
excitedly,  in  Robe's  ear.  Yes,  Pakenham 
had  fallen,  than  whom  no  leader  was  ever 
braver.  But  the  disorganized  force  again 
seemed  to  rally,  again  bore  onward  with 
British  sullenness.  Again  an  officer  is  on 
the  parapet,  and  CarTerty,  who  is  at  that 
point,  telling  him  he  is  too  brave  to  die. 
"Tell  my  commander  I  fell  on  your  para 
pet,"  Major  Wilkinson,  says  and  dies.  And 
back  there  they  are  breaking, — the  survivors, 
for  whole  regiments  have  been  swept  away. 
And  the  reserve  comes  up  only  to  cover  what 
is  a  sorry,  despairful,  angry  flight  from  those 
fearful  guns  and  rifles. 


246  CHALMETTE 

"  How  long  d'ye  think  it  has  been  ?" 
Cafferty  asks  Robe. 

"  Two  hours;"  said  the  other, — "  two  hours 
easily." 

"  Why,  man,  it's  been  just  twenty-five 
minutes." 

The  smoke  scurried  about  and  hid  the  field. 
Our  firing  slackened,  and  you  could  hear  in 
English  and  French,  as  the  hot,  grimy  men 
felt  their  success.  And  the  bands  burst  out 
with  a  great  clamor  of  "Hail,  Columbia." 
But  as  the  scurrying  smoke  left  the  field,  we 
turned  from  exultation  almost  to  dismay. 
Such  a  field  as  that  Robe  never  may  see 
again, — such  a  crime  of  war  !  For  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  bodies  were  packed  together,  some 
still,  some  trying  to  crawl  away.  And  these 
were  the  fine,  smoothly-shaven  soldiers  of 
the  King  of  Great  Britain, — our  cousins  in 
blood  and  tradition. 

Presently  a  trumpeter  appears,  a  private 
with  a  white  flag,  an  officer  beside  him. 
Captain  Robe  is  detailed  to  meet  him. 

"  I  have  this  letter  for  General  Jackson," 
says  the  officer. 


CHALMETTE  247 

"  I  will  deliver  it,  sir,"  and  Robe  pauses. 
"  I  never  could  have  imagined  greater  stub 
bornness, — to  rush  on  in  the  face  of  that  fire." 

"  Sir  Edward  is  dead  ;  General  Keane  and 
General  Gibbs  badly  wounded,"  says  the 
officer.  "  My  God,  sir,  it's  terrible, — horrible ! 
But  we  must  have  time  to  bury  our  dead. 
Across  the  river  it  went  better  with  us." 

Robe  bows  an  acknowledgment  to  that 
little  pardonable  pride  ;  a  brave  man's  suffer 
ing  touches  even  the  victor ;  we  so  easily 
might  have  been  the  conquered. 

Our  general  reads  the  letter  carefully,  with 
no  exultation  in  his  manner. 

"  Call  the  officer's  attention,  Captain  Robe, 
to  the  fact  that  the  sender  of  this  note  has 
not  designated  his  authority." 

The  letter  comes  back  shortly,  duly  signed: 

"  John  Lambert,  Commander-in-Chief  of 
His  Majesty's  forces  in  Louisiana." 

And  we  go  down  to  help  them,  to  assist 
as  best  we  can,  while  the  armistice  lasts. 

All  that  afternoon  was  taken  up  with  those 
gruesome  details.  It  was  hard  to  think  these 
men  were  dead.  Our  prisoners  and  wounded 


248  CHALMETTE 

were  sent  to  the  city, — where  already  a  young 
creole  gentleman  had  ridden  wildly  in,  shout 
ing: 

"  Victory  !     Victory  !" 

And  why  a  victory  !  If  those  fighters  had 
known  the  peace  had  been  signed  before  the 
fight  began,  the  lives  of  two  thousand  six 
hundred  men  had  been  saved  on  the  British 
and  a  score  on  our  side.  A  pity,  indeed,  you 
say.  Ah,  yes,  a  pity.  But,  then,  the  prestige 
of  our  arms  was  established  ;  we  gave  it  back 
to  them  for  the  burning  of  Washington. 
Yet, — Robe  is  an  old  man  now,  his  fine  en 
thusiasms  are  gone,  and  it  seems  as  if  the 
price  of  our  glory  was  too  costly.  He 
remembers  that  night  when  by  flaring 
torches  the  dead  were  buried  by  hundreds  in 
the  garden  of  Viller^'s.* 


*  [My  dear  grandfather  with  his  usual  modesty  fails  to  relate 
what  everybody  knows,  that,  aide  though  he  was,  he  led  a  most 
decisive  little  charge  on  one  of  the  earlier  days,  which,  indeed, 
gained  him  his  colonelcy.  His  extreme  reticence  in  speaking 
about  his  own  personal  achievements  is  provoking  to  his  editor, 
who  knows  that  even  in  the  Battalion  d' Orleans,  so  distinguished 
on  the  Day  of  Chalmette,  there  was  no  braver,  more  efficient 
officer  than  Christopher  Robe. — C.  R.  F.] 


CHAPTER  XXI 

THE  QUARREL  OF  M.  JEAN  LAFITTE 
AND  CAPTAIN  ROBE 

WHAT  Robe  has  to  relate  now  in  his  own 
story  is  indeed  most  exasperating.  For  to 
go  through  a  great  battle  without  a  scar,  and 
then  to  have  a  wound  from  another  dastardly 
cause  certainly  is  not  distinguishing,  and 
one  may  cry  out  on  such  a  fate.  The  openly 
avowed  antagonism  of  Jean  Lafitte  has  been 
told  of  in  that  little  less  than  remarkable  talk 
our  captain  had  with  Lafitte  when  one  day 
carrying  an  order  to  Captain  Dominique  You. 
The  warning  and  extraordinary  statement  of 
La  Roux  had  followed.  But  in  the  activity 
of  those  busy,  tired  days  there  had  been  little 
time  to  consider  what  these  things  meant. 
Would  Lafitte,  out  of  some  pique  and  jeal 
ousy,  after  he  had  confessed  that  the  Virginia 

girl  had  partly  induced  his  course  of  action, 

249 


250  CHALMETTE 

— would  he  descend  to  some  low  rascal's 
means  of  revenge  *?  Yet  the  man's  character 
was  made  up  of  so  many  different  qualities ; 
— those  of  the  fine  gentleman,  those  of  the 
leader  of  buccaneers.  In  gaining  his  position 
he  had  used  all  the  means  a  desperate  man 
may.  So  you  cannot  say  that  what  Robe 
here  has  to  tell  for  the  first  time  was  so  sur 
prising. 

'Twas  the  night  of  the  eighth.  General 
Jackson,  much  chagrined  at  a  most  disgrace 
ful  retreat  made  by  ours  on  the  right  bank 
of  the  river,  had  sent  Captain  Robe  with  an 
escort  of  three  men  to  investigate  the  causes. 
Now,  as  the  captain  was  stepping  into  the 
boat  there  came  a  shot  from  somewhere ;  it 
might  have  been  a  chance  shot ;  it  might 
have  been  purposeful.  For  who  could  tell, 
— in  that  body  of  men  we  had  many  from 
conditions  that  are  hard  to  imagine  in  these 
days  of  the  United  States. 

Did  you  ever  know  what  it  is  to  have  a 
wound?  Robe  was  to  have  another  in 
Mexico, — years  after ;  that  was  in  battle ; 
this,  too,  perhaps,  was  in  battle.  The  armis- 


CHALMETTE  251 

tice  was  already  ended.  But,  however  it 
came,  Robe  was  shot,  though  he  knew  not 
how.  It  was  as  if  some  frightful  blow  had 
been  struck  him :  there  was  a  faintness,  and 
consciousness  passed.  Nor  did  he  know 
himself  until  many  days  after;  and  he 
awoke  in  a  still,  white  room,  where  all  that 
was  heard  was  a  clock  ticking  and  a  voice 
intoning  a  negro  melody.  His  strength  was 
not  even  equal  to  raising  his  voice,  and 
gradually  his  eyes  closed  again ;  and  there 
were  looking  down  on  him  a  quadroon,  red- 
turbaned,  and  a  white-headed  old  man,  who 
was  saying, — 

"  He  will  be  better  now,  Mademoiselle. 
The  fever  has  passed." 

And  there  answered  another  voice,  low 
and  musical ;  and  the  eyes  he  wished  to  see 
looked  down  into  his.  And  he  wished  to 
speak,  but  she  said,  "  Hush,  dear,"  and  she 
bent  over  and  kissed  him. 

And  then  after  some  more  hours  he  said, 
"  Is  it  you,  indeed,  Sallie  ?  I  thought  I  was 
far  away  in  a  swamp,  and  they  were  fighting, 
— fighting.  It  was  horrible." 


252  CHALMETTE 

"  It  is  I,  Kit,  dear.  But  it  was  a  glorious 
victory." 

Then  he  began  to  understand,  to  remem 
ber  it  all,  from  first  to  last ;  and  then  he 
thought  of  Lafitte's  face  as  he  had  talked 
with  him  that  time  by  the  guns.  And  then 
came  all  those  reflections  with  which  this 
chapter  begins, — about  Lafitte's  character. 
Had  the  Baratarian  leader  been  behind  that 
shot  out  of  the  gloom  ?  Had  the  warning 
of  La  Roux  been  well  founded  ?  And  one 
day  he  asked  her, — how  many  things  they 
were  to  talk  of  as  he  lay  there !  how  many 
confidences  and  confessions  they  were  to  ex 
change  ! — 

"  How  did  I  get  here,  dear  ?  It  is  Madame 
Demarche's,  isn't  it?" 

"  Yes,  Madame  Demarche's,  in  the  city. 
Do  you  not  suppose  I  inquired  about  you, 
Kit  ?  Oh,  how  we  worried  when  those  guns 
sounded  all  day, — day  after  day, — till  it 
came  to  the  last  day.  That  morning  the 
Ursulines  put  over  their  chapel  the  image  of 
Our  Lady  of  Prompt  Succor,  and  prayed 
to  her, — and  she  and  God  heard, — even  if 


CHALMETTE  253 

you  be  a  Protestant,  Kit,  you  must  allow. 
And,  indeed,  all  the  city  prayed. 

"  But  when  the  wounded  were  brought  in 
we  all  tried  what  we  could  do  to  help,  and  no 
one  worked  better  than  that  little  Marie  de 
Renier  you  made  love  to  so  furiously,  Kit." 

"  I  have  confessed  it,"  said  he. 

"  Oh,  have  you  ?  But  hush,  don't  talk. 
Every  house  in  New  Orleans  was  turned  into 
a  hospital,  and  every  woman  into  a  nurse, 
and  we  have  tried  to  take  care  of  those  poor, 
brave  fellows  whom  we  defeated.  But  among 
all  I  was  expecting, — whom  do  you  think  ? 
Can't  you  imagine,  Kit  ?  Then  Mr.  Lafitte 
came  here  very  calm  and  serious,  and  he 
asked  to  have  you  brought  here.  He  said 
you  had  been  shot  and  were  delirious.  And 
he  had  you  brought  here,  looking  to  you 
very  carefully,  Kit." 

"  Jean  Lafitte  !  Jean  Lafitte  !"  the  invalid 
said.  Had  he  wronged  the  man,  then  ? 

"  No  one  could  have  been  more  thought 
ful  ;  no  one  could  have  done  more  for  you." 

And  Robe  was  silent,  wondering  over  his 
false  suspicions. 


254  CHALMETTE 

"  That  was  five  weeks  ago,  Monsieur 
Robe,"  she  said,  smiling  at  him.  "  And  you 
were  very,  very  ill, — a  fearful  fever.  And 
what  you  raved  about  would  fill  a  book. 
And  I  discovered  that  you  were  jealous." 

"  Of  Lafitte  <?" 

"  Yes,  of  him.   You  told  all  your  secrets." 

"  And  you  still  believe  in  me,  Sallie  ?" 

"  Oh,  I  like  you  as  well,  though  I  was 
shocked  once  or  twice.  No  matter,  dear ; 
but  you  must  get  rid  of  these  notions  about 
Mr.  Lafitte.  No  one  in  the  world  could 
have  been, — could  be, — nicer  to  you  and  to 
me." 

"  Five  weeks,"  said  Robe ;  "  I  have  been 
here  all  that  time."  He  did  not  wish  to  say 
more  that  moment  about  the  Raratarian. 
Rut  Sallie  continued  the  subject  with  a  great 
show  of  interest. 

"  And  all  the  Raratarians  have  been  par 
doned,  and  Captain  Dominique  You  has 
been  publicly  thanked  by  General  Jackson 
for  his  service  at  the  guns.  Listen,  Kit,  to 
this  proclamation  by  the  President." 

She  took  a  paper  from  a  table  and  read : 


CHALMETTE  255 

"  Offenders  who  have  refused  to  become 
associates  of  the  enemy  in  war  upon  the 
most  seducing  terms  of  invitation,  and  who 
have  aided  to  repel  this  hostile  invasion  of 
the  territory  of  the  United  States,  can  no 
longer  be  considered  as  othei  than  objects 
of  general  forgiveness." 

She  threw  the  sheet  down  and  looked  at 
the  invalid. 

"  Isn't  that  fine  *?  And  it  puts  me  in  not  so 
bad  a  position  before  your  uncle." 

"  I  consult  you  and  myself  on  that  point," 
Robe  said, — "  no  other  soul  in  the  world." 

He  was  thinking  of  what  Lafitte  had  said 
in  that  moment  of  self-revealing  passion, — 
that  he  partly  had  taken  his  position  because 
that  would  please  Captain  de  Bertrand's 
granddaughter.  And  then  she  was  really  in 
a  degree  responsible  for  the  pardon  of  Bara- 
taria,  for  the  good  service  we  ill  could  have 
spared  on  the  Day  of  Chalmette ;  a  woman 
in  this  case,  then,  and  she  so  finely  charming. 
Was  it  true  that  he  who  had  given  to  Ronald 
the  fair  chance  of  the  duel  could  have  re 
sorted  to  an  assassin's  way, — out  of  that 


256  CHALMETTE 

same  self-confessed  passion  ?  And  why  then 
had  he  brought  his  wounded  enemy  direct 
to  her  whom  it  was  all  about  ?  Why  had 
he  been  to  such  particular  pains  to  atone  for 
what  he  had  done, — if  he,  indeed,  had  done 
it  ?  It  seemed,  after  all,  little  likely  that  he 
had.  The  burden  of  evidence  was  the  other 
way. 

"And  if  there  is  any  question  of  Mr. 
Lafitte's  full  social  recognition,  you  must 
know  that  he  has  been  asked  to  serve  with 
M.  de  St.  Geme,  whose  name  itself  is  a  pass 
port,  as  second  in  a  duel.  And,  oh,  Kit,  you 
have  missed  so  many  balls,  so  many  dances  !" 

"  You  are  in  the  spirit  of  dancing,  I  notice," 
he  said,  "  which  you  weren't  some  time  ago." 

"  You  have  made  me  so,"  she  said,  "  by 
getting  better." 

"  And  that  is  worth  having  been  very  ill  to 
hear."  And  he  said  some  things  which  need 
not  be  written  here. 

"  Was  the  army  well  received  ?"  he  asked, 
at  last. 

"  Well  received ;  I  should  say  so,"  Sallie 
went  on.  "  Poor  boy,  I  could  no  more  enjoy 


CHALMETTE  257 

it  than  you  could.  But  I  will  tell  you  about 
it.  They  put  up  an  arch  in  the  Place  d'Armes. 
And  then  they  had  the  handsomest  women 
in  New  Orleans, — you  know  how  handsome 
they  can  be,  you  susceptible  Kit.  One  was 
Liberty,  the  other  Justice,  standing  by  the 
pillars  at  each  side  of  the  arch.  At  their 
sides  two  children  held  laurel  wreaths.  Then 
from  the  arch  to  the  cathedral  there  were  two 
lines  of  your  beauties,  Kit,  with  behind  each 
one  an  upright  lance  with  the  arms  of  a  State 
or  a  Territory.  Flowers  and  evergreens  were 
about  the  arch,  you  know,  and  extended  in 
festoons  from  lance  point  to  lance  point  and 
over  the  street  to  the  cathedral,  where  the 
door  was  finely  decorated  with  flowers.  This 
was  January  twenty-third,  you  know,  Kit." 
"  And  I  lost  myself  on  the  eighth." 
"  On  the  great  eighth,  Kit,  dear,  which  all 
this  celebration  was  about." 

"  Well,  such  a  crowd  !  Ah,  if  you  could 
have  seen  it.  Then  the  general,  ugly  and 
handsome  all  at  once, — I  saw  him  from  the 
balcony, — came  into  the  city  by  the  river 
gate,  his  staff  behind  him, — save  one  import 
17 


258  CHALMETTE 

tant  member,  dear  Kit,  who  was  struggling 
with  his  wound  and  the  fever.  Then  the 
guns  roar ;  they  made  me  shudder,  thinking 
how  many  were  killed  by  them  on  the  eighth ; 
and  the  bands  are  a-playing,  and  the  people 
— black  and  white — are  shouting ;  and  the 
cherubs  at  the  arch's  foot  are  crowning  him 
with  a  laurel  wreath.  Then  he  passes  under 
the  arch,  and  is  met  by  Louisiana,  who  says 
something  like, '  Hail,  hero  !'  don't  you  know, 
my  Christopher?  It  was  a  prettily  worded 
speech,  they  say.  Then  when  he  descends, 
all  the  United  States,  the  beauties,  Kit,  throw 
flowers  for  him  to  walk  on ;  and  at  the 
cathedral  door  stands  the  Abbe  Dubourg, 
with  a  line  of  priests  behind ;  and  the  abbe 
makes  a  speech,  and  the  general  replies,  they 
say,  as  if  he  had  done  nothing  at  all, — as 
if  anybody  could  have  saved  New  Orleans, 
which  I  thought  very  modest  and  proper. 
Then  he  goes  into  the  cathedral  and  the 
Battalion  d'Orleans  behind  him,  and  the  '  Te 
Deum'  rises  grandly,  Madame  Demarche 
says ;  and  after  all  is  over  there  are  dinners, 
and  in  the  evening  fireworks  and  balls, — 


CHALMETTE  259 

such  balls !  Marie  de  Renier  says.  She  is 
very  much  followed  up  by  a  Lieutenant 
Beaumont,*  one  of  the  prisoners ;  you  may 
not  like  to  hear,  Kit." 

"  I  am  terribly  troubled,"  he  said, — "  ter 
ribly,  dear  Sallie.  And  you  went  to  no  balls, 
Sallie  ?" 

"  You  were  ill,  Kit,"  she  said ;  and  there 
was  some  more  said,  which  need  not  be 
written  here. 

And  as  the  invalid  grew  stronger  there 
came  others  with  many  stories, — Cafferty, 
Deschamps,  M.  de  St.  Geme,  Captain  Domi 
nique  You,  even  General  Jackson  himself, 
who  told  his  aide  of  the  victory  very  mod 
estly  indeed ;  what  a  shame  Sir  Edward 
Pakenham's  death  was !  what  a  masterly 
retreat  General  Lambert  made  ! 

Then  one  day  came  John  Robe,  of  West- 
more,  who,  despite  his  gout,  had  journeyed 
to  see  his  nephew,  of  whom  he  seemed  quite 
proud.  Now  may  Robe  state  that  his  uncle 


*  Mademoiselle  de  Renier  married  this  Lieutenant — later  Ad 
miral  Beaumont,  and  later  Earl  of  Rutven. — C.  R.  F. 


260  CHALMETTE 

was  not  so  strenuous  in  his  opposition  to  his 
marriage  when  he  heard  that  Miss  Maurice 
had  inherited  a  great  fortune.  'Tis  strange 
how  riches  will  destroy  a  prejudice,  how  even 
very  good  men — of  lineage  to  be  very  proud 
of — will  swallow  their  prejudices  when  a 
fortune  is  concerned ;  *  how  Kit's  uncle  for 
got  the  bad  blood  of  Miss  Maurice.  And, 
indeed,  weren't  these  piratical  folk  all  par 
doned  ? 

And  among  others  there  came  to  see  the 
convalescent  a  certain  little  fellow,  La  Roux. 

"  I'm  sorry,"  said  he ;  "I  told  you  to  be 
careful." 

"  You  don't  mean  that  it  really  was  Jean 
Lafitte  who  shot  me,  or  caused  me  to  be 
shot  ?" 

"  I  certainly  do,"  La  Roux  said.  "  But 
you  through  her  will  become  in  some  sense 
my  kin.  So  I  warned  you,  but  too  late, 
Monsieur, — too  late." 

"  I  seem  to  be  recovering,"  said  Robe. 

*  I  may  state  that  my  grandmother's  fortune  was  always 
liberally  spent  in  charities.  It  was  quite  dissipated  by  my  family 
in  trying  to  support  the  cause  of  the  Confederacy. — C.  R.  F. 


CHALMETTE  261 

"Oh,  well-a-day,  he  was  sorry  for  it, — 
after  it  was  done.  Yes,  sorry.  Good-bye, 
captain." 

And  the  young  man  extended  his  hand, 
which  Robe  pressed. 

"  You  are  going  away  ?" 

"  I  am  going  again  into  the  service  of 
Carthagena." 

"Into  the  Gulf  trade?"  Robe  asked. 
"  Why, — when  you  are  well  out  of  it  ?" 

"  Ask  why  the  bird  flies  ?"  La  Roux  said. 
"  My  nature,  captain,  the  nature  my  father 
gave  me.  And  I  never  have  betrayed  my 
position, — never,  save  this  once  to  you,  and 
that's  a  question  of  kinship.  Good-bye, 
Captain  Robe." 

And  he  went  out,  leaving  Robe  thought 
ful.  Yet  scarcely  had  he  gone  before  the 
door  opened,  and  Madame  Demarche  came 
in,  in  her  usual  bustling  way. 

"  He  is  quite  able  to  see  you,  Monsieur, 
my  dear  Monsieur." 

And  there  stood  Jean  Lafitte,  extremely 
well  tailored, — his  face  firm,  strong,  suave, 
— repeating  polite  commonplaces  to  the 


262  CHALMETTE 

invalid.  But  when  Madame  had  gone,  he 
turned  quickly,  his  eyes  flashing,  and  he 
said: 

"  You  have,  Captain  Robe,  satisfaction  to 
ask  of  me?" 

Robe  studied  him  for  a  moment. 

"  You  shot  me, — or  had  me  shot,  Mon 
sieur  Lafitte?" 

"  Yes,  yes." 

"  Why  then  afterward  did  you  try  to  save 
my  life  ?" 

"  It  was  for  her,  not  for  you ;  I  knew  it 
would  hurt  her." 

"  It  was  true, — what  you  told  me, — that 
her  position  led  you  or  influenced  you  in 
refusing  the  British  overtures  ?" 

"  Quite  true,  Monsieur." 

"  Monsieur  Lafitte,"  said  Robe  then,  "  I 
have  no  quarrel  with  you.  You  are  a 
strange  man, — a  strange  combination  of 
one  given  to  a  rascal's  methods  and  of  a 
gentleman.  You  have  served  her,  and  you 
have  served  me ;  and  you  have  served  the 
United  States.  You  have  done  me  one 
injury,  'tis  true.  But,  as  the  aggrieved  party, 


CHALMETTE  263 

'tis  for  me  to  prove  the  quarrel.  Monsieur, 
I  have  no  quarrel  with  you." 

"  I  am  obliged,  Monsieur,"  Lafitte  said, 
bowing ;  and  he  went  out  of  the  room. 

A  few  moments  after  the  door  opened  and 
Sallie  Maurice  was  there. 

"  Mr.  Lafitte  bade  you  good-bye  ?"  she 
said. 

"  Yes,"  he  said.     "  Why  ?" 

"  He  has  left  New  Orleans,  he  says,  for 
ever.  He  goes  to  Galveston." 

"Are  you  sorry,  dear*?"  Robe  asked, 
almost  if  not  quite  suspiciously. 

"  Why,  Kit,  I  believe  you  are  jealous 
now,"  she  said,  leaning  towards  him.  And 
here  was  another  episode  that  need  not  be 
recorded  here. 

But  neither  of  those  two  saw  Lafitte  again. 
Both  he  and  his  brother  Pierre  disappeared 
from  New  Orleans  in  the  hey-day  of  their 
reputation.  Jean  afterwards  was  engaged  in 
privateering  at  Galveston  and  about  the  Gulf, 
where  he  boasted  of  carrying  again  Cartha 
ginian  letters  of  marque,  and  there's  a  report 
that  he  died  an  admiral  in  that  service.  It 


264  CHALMETTE 

was  asserted  that  in  his  latter  years  he  became 
very  boldly  unscrupulous ;  that  he  did  not 
hesitate  to  commit  serious  crimes.  Robe 
often  asked  Dominique  You  about  him. 
Captain  You  remained  in  New  Orleans, 
where  he  died  in  prosperity  and  the  enjoy 
ment  of  an  excellent  civic  reputation.  But 
of  the  brothers  Lafitte  and  of  La  Roux  he 
would  say  nothing.  And,  however  unscrupu 
lous  Lafitte  may  have  been,  he  turned  over 
religiously  to  Philip  Maurice  all  the  great  De 
Bertrand  property,  consisting  very  largely  of 
valuable  estates  in  city  and  country. 

'Tis,  my  children,  a  far  cry  to  those  times, 
when  buccaneering  so  considerably  influenced 
the  history  of  an  American  Commonwealth  ; 
— when  the  mighty  battle  of  Chalmette  was 
fought  and  won. 


THE    END. 


BY 


ANNE  HOLLINGSWORTH  WHARTON. 


Through  Colonial  Doorways. 

With  a  number  of  colonial  illustrations  from  drawings  specially  made 
for  the  work.     I2mo.     Cloth,  $1.25. 

"  It  is  a  pleasant  retrospect  of  fashionable  New  York  and  Philadelphia 
society  during  and  immediately  following  the  Revolution ;  for  there  was  a  Four 
Hundred  even  in  those  days,  and  some  of  them  were  Whigs  and  some  were 
Tories,  but  all  enjoyed  feasting  and  dancing,  of  which  there  seemed  to  be  no 
limit.  And  this  little  book  tells  us  about  the  belles  of  the  Philadelphia  meschi- 
anza,  who  they  were,  how  they  dressed,  and  how  they  flirted  with  Major  Andr6 
and  other  officers  in  Sir  William  Howe's  wicked  employ." — Philadelphia  Record. 


Colonial  Days  and  Dames. 

With  numerous  illustrations.     I2mo.     Cloth,  $1.25. 

"  In  less  skilful  hands  than  those  of  Anne  Hollingsworth  Wharton's,  thes* 
•craps  of  reminiscences  from  diaries  and  letters  would  prove  but  dry  bones.  But 
she  has  made  them  so  charming  that  it  is  as  if  she  had  taken  dried  roses  from  an 
old  album  and  freshened  them  into  bloom  and  perfume.  Each  slight  paragraph 
from  a  letter  is  framed  in  historical  sketches  of  local  affairs  or  with  some  account 
of  the  people  who  knew  the  letter  writers,  or  were  at  least  of  their  date,  and  there 
are  pretty  suggestions  as  to  how  and  why  such  letters  were  written,  with  hints  of 
love  affairs,  which  lend  a  rose-colored  veil  to  what  were  probably  every-day 
Blatters  in  colonial  families." — Pittsburg  Bulletin. 


For  sale  by  all  Booksellers,  or  will  be  sent,  post-paid,  upon  receipt  of  price, 

J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT   COMPANY,  Publishers, 

PHILADELPHIA. 


Mrs.  A.  L.  Wister's  Translations. 

I2mo.     Cloth,  $1.00  per  volume. 


COUNTESS  ERIKA'S  APPRENTICESHIP By  Ossip  Schubin. 

"O  THOU,  MY  AUSTRIA!" By  Ossip  Schubin. 

ERLACH  COURT By  Ossip  Schubin. 

THE  ALPINE  FAY By  E.  Werner. 

THE  OWL'S  NEST By  E.  Marlitt. 

PICKED  UP  IN  THE  STREETS By  H.  Schobert. 

SAINT  MICHAEL By  E.  Werner. 

VIOLETTA By  Ursula  Zoge  von  Manteufel. 

THE  I.ADY  WITH  THE  RUBIES By  E.  Marlitt. 

VAIN  FOREBODINGS By  E.  Oswald. 

A  PENNILESS  GIRL By  W.  Heimburg. 

QUICKSANDS By  Adolph  Streckfuss. 

BANNED  AND  BLESSED By  E.  Werner. 

A  NOBLE  NAME By  Claire  von  Glumer. 

FROM  HAND  TO  HAND By  Golo  Raimund. 

SEVERA By  E.  Hartner. 

A  NEW  RACE By  Golo  Raimund. 

THE  EICHHOFS By  Moritz  von  Reichenbach. 

CASTLE  HOHENWALD By  Adolph  Streckfuss. 

MARGARETHE By  E.  Juncker. 

Too  RICH By  Adolph  Streckfuss. 

A  FAMILY  FEUD By  L,udwig  Harder. 

THE  GREEN  GATE By  Ernst  Wichert. 

ONLY  A  GIRL By  Wilhelmine  von  Hillern. 

WHY  DID  HE  NOT  DIE  ? By  Ad.  von  Volckhauser. 

HULDA By  Fanny  Lewald. 

THE  BAILIFF'S  MAID By  E.  Marlitt. 

IN  THE  SCHILLINGSCOURT By  E.  Marlitt. 

COUNTESS  GISELA  ; By  E.  Marlitt. 

AT  THE  COUNCILLOR'S By  E.  Marlitt. 

THE  SECOND  WIFE By  E.  Marlitt. 

THE  OLD  MAM'SELLE'S  SECRET By  E.  Marlitt. 

GOLD  ELSIE By  E.  Marlitt. 

THE  LITTLE  MOORLAND  PRINCESS By  E.  Marlitt. 


"  Mrs.  A.  L.  Wister,  through  her  many  translations  of  novels  from  the  Ger 
man,  has  established  a  reputation  of  the  highest  order  for  literary  judgment,  and  for 
a  long  time  her  name  upon  the  title-page  of  such  a  translation  has  been  a  sufficient 
guarantee  to  the  lovers  of  fiction  of  a  pure  and  elevating  character,  that  the  novel 
\vould  be  a  cherished  home  favorite.  This  faith  in  Mrs.  Wister  is  fully  justified  by 
the  fact  that  among  her  more  than  thirty  translations  that  have  been  published  by 
Lippincott's  there  has  not  been  a  single  disappointment.  And  to  the  exquisite 
judgment  of  selection  is  to  be  added  the  rare  excellence  of  her  translations,  which 
has  commanded  the  admiration  of  literary  and  linguistic  scholars." — Boston  Homt 
Journal. 


j.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY,  PHILADELPHIA. 


By  Mrs.  Lindon  W.  Bates. 


Bunch-Grass  Stories. 

I2mo.     Cloth,  $1.25. 

There  is  uncommon  freshness,  like  a  wind  from  the  wide  plains, 
in  these  tales  called  Bunch-  Grass  Stories.  They  are  the  work  of  a 
writer  who  observes  and  seizes  the  picturesque  traits  in  every  land 
where  fortune  happens  to  call  her,  and  her  travels  have  evidently 
been  many  and  far  away.  She  has,  likewise,  much  reading,  which 
she  puts  to  good  account  in  stories  that  impart  the  ring  of  truth  to 
classic  episodes. 


A  Blind  Lead, 

Vh.e  Story  of  a  JVIine- 
I2mo.     Cloth,  $1.25. 

'"A  Blind  Lead'  Is  certainly  a  powerful  book.  We  took  k  up  Indifferently 
enough,  but  we  had  read  a  few  pages  only  before  we  found  it  was  no  ordinary 
work  by  no  ordinary  writer.  A  good  deal  of  skill  is  shown  in  the  drawing  of  char 
acter.  There  are  no  dull  pages,  and  the  interest  is  continuous  from  the  first  chapter 
to  the  last." — Boston  Advertiser. 


A  Nameless  Wrestler. 

I2mo.     Paper,  50  cents;  cloth,  £l.oo. 

"  Her  story,  '  A  Blind  Lead,'  was  very  promising,  and  it  is  followed  by  an 
extremely  interesting  tale, '  A  Nameless  Wrestler.'  Here  is  something  outside  the 
hackneyed  course  of  fiction — fresh,  strong,  fascinating,  dramatic,  and  wholesome — 
scenes  laid  in  an  unfamiliar  country,  though  our  own,  and  characters  human  enough 
to  be  all  the  more  interesting  because  touched  with  strange  traits  by  virtue  of  en 
vironment." — Detroit  Tribune. 


J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY,  PHILADELPHIA. 


Fate  at  the  Door. 

A  NOVEL. 

By  Jessie  Van  Zile  Belden. 


I2mo.     Paper,  50  cents ;  crushed  buckram,  ornamental,  $1.00. 


"The  story  is  decidedly  clever,  and  the  semi-flirtatious  relations  of  society 
men  and  women  are  admirably,  wittily  described." — Boston  Literary  World. 

"  This  is  a  story  of  more  than  a  little  originality,  a  thoughtful  and  well-told 
story." — Boston  Courier. 

"  An  admirably  written  story,  instinct  with  ethical  suggestion." — Philadelphia 
Press. 

"  There  is  a  true  womanliness  about  this  story  of  the  social  world  that  leaves  a 
delightful  impression  upon  the  reader." — Boston  Herald. 

"  Each  page  is  turned  with  regret,  since  it  brings  one  nearer  to  the  end  of  the 
charming  book." — Amusement  Gazette,  Cleveland,  Ohio. 

"  It  is  one  of  those  novels  one  is  glad  to  have  read,  one  which  is  remembered 
for  a  long  time,  and  one  which  thoroughly  awakens  the  emotions." — New  Ytrk 
World. 

"  This  is  a  strong,  pathetic,  eloquent  little  story,  and  one  which  will  be  remem 
bered  by  its  readers  long  after  many  more  pretentious  novels  have  passed  to  the 
limbo  of  things  forgotten.  '  Fate  at  the  Door'  is  not  a  book  to  be  allowed  to  go 
unread." — News,  Charleston,  S.  C. 

"To  make  its  treatment  perfectly  effective,  a  story  treating  with  the  problem 
of  platonic  love  requires  high  literary  skill  and  great  delicacy,  and  these  Mrs. 
Belden  has  displayed  to  a  remarkable  height  of  genius.  This  novel  alone  entitles 
her  to  rank  among  the  finest  and  most  interesting  writers  of  the  day." — Boston 
Home  Journal. 

"  A  very  interesting  story,  in  which  the  movement  is  quick  and  effective  and 
the  characters  are  well  handled.  It  is  a  story  of  misplaced  affection  which  could 
be  placed  elsewhere  without  difficulty  or  risk  of  repulsion  if  it  were  not  restrained 
by  strong  moral  convictions." — Buffalo  Commercial. 


J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY,  PHILADELPHIA. 


A     000  551574 


